Accessibility basics: How to make your game more accessible

Learn the basics of video game accessibility: where to start, why you should start early, and simple solutions for hearing, vision, motor, and cognitive needs.

Picture someone who loves your video game but can’t hear the dialogue, can’t tell your red and green markers apart, or can’t hold a button down for three seconds. They aren’t asking for a different game. They’re asking for a way in.

That’s what video game accessibility is about: removing the barriers that stop people from playing. The good news is that many of the most helpful improvements are small, especially if you think about them early. This accessibility guide covers where to start, the basics for each kind of need, and potential considerations for your own project.

What video game accessibility means

An accessible video game is one that as many people as possible can play and enjoy, including players with disabilities. It doesn’t mean making a game easier or removing its challenge. It means making sure the challenge is the one you designed without an obstacle like unreadable text or a control someone physically can’t use.

This isn’t a niche concern. An estimated 1.3 billion people – about 1 in 6 people worldwide – experience significant disability. Disability is diverse, too. It can affect how someone sees, hears, moves, thinks, or processes information, and it can be permanent, temporary, or come and go.

Accessibility features also help people you might not expect. Subtitles help players in noisy rooms or anyone playing with the sound off so they don’t disturb others. Customizable controls give people agency over how they play. Contrast options can help someone playing on an entry-level screen or dealing with glare. Design for the edge cases, and every player will benefit.

Start with the most meaningful capabilities

Rather than treating accessibility as a checklist, consider it a way to draw in and retain players. Keep accessibility capabilities in mind early in your game development process to prevent costly redesigns and rewrites later.

If you’re not sure where to begin, start with the issues players complain about most. Accessibility advocates point to four key areas: control remapping, text size, color blindness, and subtitle presentation. Get those right and you’ll make a real difference for a lot of players.

There’s one caveat: The most requested features aren’t always the most needed. Some players are less able to speak up about the barriers they face. Treat these four as a starting point, not a finish line.

Hearing: Don’t rely on sound alone

Sound carries a lot of information in games – dialogue, footsteps, warnings, music that swells before a fight. Players who are deaf or hard of hearing need another way to get that information.

• Provide subtitles for all speech and captions for important sound effects. Turn them on by default, or let players switch them on before any sound plays, so nobody misses the opening scene. Research suggests that leaving subtitles on by default has little negative effect on the experience for most players, with most choosing to leave them on.
• Show who’s speaking. Add the speaker’s name when a new person starts talking.
• Keep subtitles readable. Aim for short lines – no more than about 40 characters – with no more than two lines on screen at once. Use sentence case rather than all capitals, and let players add a solid background behind the text.
• Make sure no essential information comes from sound alone. If a footstep behind the player matters, show it with a visual cue too, such as an arrow pointing toward the sound.
• Give players separate volume controls for sound effects, speech, and music.

Vision: make things clear to see and tell apart

Visual barriers often come down to size, contrast, and color.

• Use a readable default text size, and let players make it bigger.
• Use high contrast between text or interface elements and their background. As a general rule, accessibility guidelines recommend standard-size text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text at least 3:1. If you offer a high-contrast mode, aim for 7:1 or higher.
• Never use color alone to carry essential information. Color blindness affects about 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Pair color with something else: a shape, an icon, a pattern, or a label. A red circle and a green triangle are far simpler to tell apart than a red circle and a green circle.
• Keep text clear and simply formatted. Avoid putting text over busy backgrounds without a backing panel.
• If your game is 3D, set a sensible default field of view for how people will play, and in virtual reality (VR), avoid known triggers for motion sickness.

Motor: let players control the game their way

Not everyone can press buttons quickly, hold them down for long periods, or press several at once. Controls are one of the most common places to accidentally lock players out.

• Let players remap every control. Ideally, let them remap actions – like “jump” or “pick up” – not just swap two buttons.
• Avoid making players hold a button for a long time, mash a button rapidly, or press multiple buttons at the same time. Where you can’t avoid it, offer an alternative, such as a toggle instead of a hold.
• Let players adjust control sensitivity.
• On touchscreens, make buttons large and well spaced. One common guideline suggests touch targets of at least 15 mm square on phones and 24 mm on tablets.
• Consider letting players slow the game down. More time between actions can make a big difference.

Cognitive: keep it clear and let players set the pace

Cognitive accessibility is about how players understand, remember, and process information. Many of these improvements also make a game more approachable for newcomers.

• Use simple, clear language.
• Let players move through text at their own pace instead of auto-advancing it.
• Teach with interactive tutorials rather than walls of text.
• Let players engage with your game without digging through several layers of menus.
• Offer a wide range of difficulty options. Some players want a tough challenge; others want to enjoy the world and the story. Make sure your naming of these options does not diminish a player’s self-worth.

Safety: avoid harmful flashing

Some visual effects can do real harm. About 1 in 4,000 people can have a seizure when exposed to certain flashing lights or patterns, and many are unaware they’re at risk until it happens. Flashing can also trigger migraines and be difficult for players with sensory processing differences.

• Avoid flickering images and repetitive patterns.
• Keep flashes to no more than about three per second, especially when they cover a large part of the screen – roughly 20% or more.
• Be careful with saturated red flashes, which can be a problem at lower intensity than other colors.
• Avoid large, high-contrast striped or checkered patterns.

Removing risky effects is better than relying on a warning screen, because players can’t always know in advance that they’re affected.

Make settings simple to find and change

Accessibility features only help if players can find and change them.

• Save every setting, so players don’t have to set things up again each time.
• Explain your accessibility features in the game and on your store page or website.
• Ask for accessibility feedback from players, and listen to them.

Header image note: A settings panel open next to a small game screen. Settings panel: Five common options, each with a simple icon – contrast, text size, subtitles, button remapping, and audio – set with sliders and switches. Game screen: The subtitles setting is turned on and glows, and subtitles appear on the screen to match. The three collectibles differ by shape and color, so color isn’t the only cue. A small set of sound waves in the corner stands for showing sounds visually. Image generated by Claude Opus 5.5 on October 8, 2026.