The hybrid edition of #GAconf USA 2025 was held on 29th-30th September across Zoom, Discord and the Archer hotel in Redmond.
ALL PREVIOUS CONFERENCES
A round-up of some of the great progress made in the past 6 months.
From the perspective of an indie developer, Kate shares some of her experiences and lessons learned during the process of designing and implementing accessibility features in Abiotic Factor. This talk also covers Abiotic Factor’s unique implementation of an uncommonly seen accessibility setting, misophonia mode, and how it resulted in an unexpected but touching outcome.
This session provides an overview of accessibility features supported on PlayStation 5 since launch, with detailed summary of the recently launched ‘Audio Focus’ feature.
Join industry experts as they explore how to make live service games more accessible. This panel will focus on key strategies for building inclusive games that evolve over time, balancing priorities, and engaging players, all while keeping accessibility at the core of development and player communication.
This talk explores how using accessibility barriers as design lenses creates a series of constraints for novel game designs.
In this talk, Vishnu introduces Surveyor, an exploration assistance tool designed to facilitate a sense of discovery for blind and low vision (BLV) players in 3D game worlds. Drawing on formative interviews and user testing, he discusses how Surveyor encourages deeper exploration and gives players a heightened sense of agency compared to traditional menu-based and spatial audio approaches.
Disability representation in video games has improved over the years, but there is still much room for improvement and innovation! Kennedie Griggs (dynamicreactions) shares her favorite examples of disability representation in video games and media in hopes that we can look to the past and be inspired for the future.
Zooming out to millions of accessibility datapoints across the industry, Arman Nobari, the founder of AbleToPlay, shares bite-sized and actionable insights that drive engagement and revenue through accessibility. He will also share an exclusive early look at a new way for studios to discover, use, and measure accessibility data at scale.
This talk will share the latest progress in EA’s Accessibility Program for gaming software. We’ll cover how the program is structured, the services we provide to game teams, and how we collaborate across the company to drive accessible design. Along the way, we’ll discuss successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Attendees will gain insight into how a large-scale accessibility program operates, and leave with ideas for strengthening accessibility efforts in their own organizations.
“Weaving Accessibility into South of Midnight” explores how our accessibility journey began, some of the challenges we faced and how we developed accessibility features to create an inclusive experience for all players. It also takes a closer look at two of its main features: the Guiding Strand and the Skip feature.
A demonstration of how Easy Surf is helping to make Mystiques more accessible with a focus on their diorama system. Understand the process for gathering feedback from players with disabilities, showing how their input changed the design. Learn how the studio decided what changes to make and how working with players with disabilities is influencing the game’s direction.
A cautionary tale of the good, the bad and the ugly sides of gaming with ADHD, focused on the open-world genre. Hear about the personal stories and lessons of Améliane, a Games Accessibility Lead who’s own needs often get pushed aside.
Cognition in games is both relatively nascent and a highly-sensitive topic, as attention, memory and understanding are all at the very core of what defines ‘difficulty’ for many game genres. And UX is often relied upon to close this gap! This talk from the UI/UX Lead of STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor walks through the challenges, findings and caveats that ultimately helped win the GAconf 2023 award for Cognitive Accessibility, all backed by player research and testing.
Looking back at Brandon’s impact both personally and on the industry, where his legacy has taken us to today, and looking forwards to where it will lead us to in the future.
In this talk, Accessibility Consultant, and Dungeon Master Steve Saylor will explore how the show “Dungeons & Disableds” uses Dungeons & Dragons mechanics to highlight the unique adaptability of disabled players. By diving into how game mechanics mirror real-world problem-solving, Steve will demonstrate how, even in game dev, disabled people turn challenges into strengths, showcasing creativity beyond a simple roll of the dice.
Stacey shares insights from their first two years of working as an in-house accessibility specialist – what they wish they knew, and the crucial skills they needed to build… fast!
A look at the ‘Hell Welcomes All’ mini documentary, together with data on the outcomes.
Subtitles and captions in games have progressed enormously in recent years, but the games industry’s approach to them has still not yet caught up with standard practices in other screen media , including the way the text itself is structured. This short talk gives an overview of how to tackle an important aspect of that – line breaking.
Game accessibility has seen rapid growth in recent years, but there remains a significant gap between these technological advancements and their practical application in healthcare. This session aims to bridge that gap by introducing an innovative evaluation tool for adaptive gaming and showcasing *The Rehab Arcade*, a resource designed to help therapists implement accessible gaming solutions in their practice.
This talk will discuss some of the newest developments for accessible input at Xbox, including the Xbox Adaptive Joystick, expanded functionality for the Xbox Adaptive Controller and more. Learn about these new supports and the processes of creating them in partnership with members of the gaming and disability community.