10 Common Misconceptions About Accessibility In Video Games

Did you know that around 15%-20% of gamers are disabled? 14% of the adult population read at a mental age of 11 or younger. And, up to 10% of the gaming population have some form of red-green perception difficulties.

So, if you just take that top number - a fifth - that’s one out of every five gamers that may need additional accessibility options. Can you imagine not catering to one out of every five potential customers in any business?

Heck, I’m useless at business and even I know you don’t alienate every thumb out of a hand!

During my time in the Agency at Ubisoft Reflections (an internal art team focused on presentations and marketing), I was approached to do some art for a colourblindness presentation.

The developer presenting it blew my mind - with about a week’s work for two people in a AAA studio, all four main colourblindness options could be covered via carefully-chosen palettes.

And, at a design/software level, the costs are all considerably low for the majority of more frequent maladies (hearing impaired, colourblindness, partial motor dysfunction), and let’s be honest - even if they weren’t... would you really want to ostracise every cello player in a quintet?