Post-research Developments
Whilst writing this report, it occurred to me that other developments in the industry would happen as time goes on and cataloguing these would help greatly with alerting those who are interested to those changes.
In terms of developments specific to this report, I actually had a breakthrough regarding Capcom (who I had partially demonstrated as being hard to get in touch with regarding reviewing their games). It turned out, through various contacts I managed to obtain, that they were happy for me to review Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite for accessibility, providing me with a code a day early on request so that I could download the game and start working on content around it.
Moreover, having not had the chance to play Destiny 2 at E3, I was very surprised when I got in touch with an individual from Activision and they were also interested in my accessibility feedback from a review for the game, providing me with a code then and there.
These two examples alone show that mostly, if you reach just the right contact with the right pitch, you have a greater chance of succeeding where you might have previously been unable to do so. However, it also shows that it’s certainly not what you know, it’s who you know in this industry that allows for accessibility to flourish, which is unfortunate. Personally, I would say it’s similar to the classic vicious circle of employment:
- A person tries to get a job.
- They are told they cannot get a job because they need experience.
- They ask how they can get experience.
- They are told that to do so they need a job.
Either way, you cannot really win. All I would suggest to potential accessibility advocates is to find a niche for yourself, carve it out and hope it works out for you. It is tough, certainly. Sometimes, though, it can definitely prove to be rewarding.
Madden, mentioned in the resources list below, has also, thanks to an EA employee who is now the accessibility lead for EA Sports titles, had accessibility improvements moved to a higher priority. Knowing nothing about American football and consequently being far less interested in it than, say, an accessible Battlefront title, I was, regardless, pleased that a corporation like EA had actually made an effort to move into the untapped market of GWS.
Way Of The Passive Fist (WOTPF), a game I had heard about but I mistakenly believed was only releasing on PS4 has released across Xbox One, PC and PS4. After discussions with the developer, who read some of my accessibility reviews and had conversed with some gamers without sight before conversing with me, I was informed that accessibility support was actually going to be included as a post launch update including full stereo audio for positioning of enemies and objects (given that the limitations of the engine they’re working in are overcome first).
Even though I have stated before that retrofitting is not the ideal course of action, the developers’ willingness to be open about the issues they’re having and the things they’ve learnt during the development process makes me feel confident that even if they don’t manage to implement accessibility into this game to the level they hope for, their committment to adding accessibility to their future titles will still stand as a progression of their learning process.
As mentioned above in the section on Nintendo’s platform accessibility, the final waver for exemption from the CVAA for the Electronic Software Association or more specifically its members expires at the end of December 2018 as shown in the linked PDF from the FCC. This has the potential for great positive accessibility-centric change with companies like Valve, Sony and the aforementioned Nintendo as even if they have accessibility improvements in the pipeline, they will be forced to start putting their plans for greater accessibility into action sooner rather than later.
I was invited to speak at the 2018 Game Accessibility Conference in San Francisco, an event featuring perspectives from gamers with a range of disabilities as well as talks by developers, including one of the founders of Household Games. Household Games, for those who aren’t aware, developed the aforementioned Way Of The Passive Fist.
My Presentation discussed my findings from my Fellowship research, some of my experiences from the events I attended and company visits, as well as a couple of genre-centric tips for improving accessibility.
The event was a positive reminder of just how engaging not only fellow advocates but also developers and attendees can be when videogame accessibility is the topic of discussion.
Speaking of developers, I actually interacted with a few smaller developers whilst at the event, including one of the individuals behind a game that is currently in development called “Mighty Fight Federation”. This multiplayer 3D brawler, hopefully due for release at the beginning of 2019, should have gameplay footage released soon and the developers are open to accessibility feedback from constructively-minded advocates for mainstream accessibility. I will provide more information on the game as and when I can here.