There is a chill in the air at PlayAbility HQ in the Pacific Northwest. All the better to get cozy and dig into the backlog. Hopefully, some of those games have some wonderful accessibility baked in allowing gamers of all shapes and sizes to play!

 

In this edition of the PlayAbility newsletter we highlight some of the wonderful work, some work that could be improved and finally a bizarre situation that affected the entire accessibility community. So get comfy and let's explore the marvelous world of games accessibility.

 

Because gaming is for everyone!

 

 

Xbox have built upon their stellar accessibility hardware with a new controller, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick. This singular joystick can be used alongside the Xbox Adaptive Controller and other Xbox controllers giving players another input device that may better suit their needs.  

 

Further customization is available with a range of 3D printable thumbstick toppers allowing players to find just the right fit to play for “Just ten more minutes”.

(It's never just ten, is it?)

 

The Xbox Adaptive Joystick launches in early 2025 and we can’t wait to see how the accessibility community makes this little gem their own.

 

 

Microsoft have recently added another great resource,  in form of the Games Accessibility Workshop Toolkit. This toolkit gives developers a blueprint for running workshops to learn from the lived experience of disabled players. If you’re a developer looking to involve the disability community in shaping the accessibility of your next project this is a resource you should absolutely check out!

 

 

PlayStation also announced a great accessibility feature, through the PlayStation Accessories app players are able to customize their controller settings on PC. This is a great step allowing players to adjust things like button remapping and thumbstick sensitivity to better suit their needs.

Unfortunately it seems like these new customization options aren't available for the PlayStation Access Controller. Hopefully these improvements are seen as a stepping stone and can be extended to the Access Controller in the future.

 

 

After doing amazing work to address barriers in your game an important step is to let your audience know about it! The Plucky Squire did a great job posting as part of their marketing what modifications were available to make their gameplay more accessible.

 

So hats off to the folks at All Possible Futures for making The Plucky Squire accessible and then telling people about it!

 

 

Finally, a truly bizarre story was reported by Grant Stoner and published by IGN. Coty Craven was a prominent accessibility advocate who seemingly fabricated several other disabled accessibility consultants to raise awareness and fight for accessibility in games.

 

These false identities were uncovered by Grant Stoner's diligent journalism and left the entire games accessibility community bewildered and, quite frankly, hurt. It feels at times a never ending uphill battle to have studios and developers see the importance of accessibility and to put the appropriate time and resources into it. 

 

This unfortunate turn of events undermines those efforts. We hope Coty Craven is able to receive support they need and we applaud and thank Grant for his work in bringing this to light. Games accessibility is a tight knit supportive little community and we’re positive we will move past this and keep making wonderful games that make the world better in some small way.