Most of this year’s Game of the Year nominees are missing basic accessibility features, exposing how industry layoffs and budget cuts are pushing inclusion to the sidelines.
Five years ago, former Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé’s smiling face was projected onto a large screen at The Game Awards as he presented their very first Innovation in Accessibility Award to The Last of Us Part II, its 2020 Game of the Year.
“Today, approximately 1 billion people around the world experience some form of disability that makes gaming challenging for them,” he said.
“This award was created to highlight the efforts throughout the gaming industry to make software and hardware that enables games to be played and enjoyed by the widest and most inclusive audience possible because gaming is for everyone.”
In the years since then the award has highlighted some fantastic innovations and has largely been a positive for the industry, but when I look at the disparity between these innovation nominees and the Game of the Year nominees in 2025, I can’t help but get a little accessibility whiplash.
None of the Game of the Year nominees appear in the Innovation in Accessibility category. Not only that, the majority of them are missing some basic accessibility features.
Why access matters
While the ability to play video games may not seem crucial to some, they can give people living with all forms of disability an outlet that they may not be able to access through other hobbies such as sport.
Joshua Wong lives with Maffucci syndrome, a rare disability that stunts growth and can lead to physical deformities, weakened bones, and loss of mobility. In Joshua’s case, his legs and arms are different lengths which has led to him undergoing multiple procedures. He authored an article highlighting just how important video games can be to connect people living with disability to the wider world..
He’s drawn to video games where he can control a character that jumps around and moves in ways that he can’t himself, and that he is currently into action games such as Ghost of Yōtei.
“Ratchet & Clank, Sonic the Hedgehog and Crash Bandicoot series were the ones that got me through many of my early leg-lengthening procedures,” Wong said.
Video games let Joshua connect to the wider world. Source: Joshua Wong.
I feel that video games have this enormous potential to be a universal playing field where we can all have fun together regardless of physical ability. I have met many able-bodied people who are closed off to this possibility because of their own bias towards video games as a form of entertainment.”
“This makes me sad, because video games have such low barriers to entry and there is so much fun and community to be had!”
Half of the games on this year’s GOTY list are known for being quite punishing and difficult.
I was born with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a joint mobility disorder that has led to multiple surgeries throughout my life. Like Joshua, I also enjoy the escape excellent games provide, and as such I often play the fantastic Aussie Metroidvania that is Hollow Knight until I get too sore.
This means I understand that the frustrating, long treks back to some of its bosses that leave me tired and nursing my hand in a brace are certainly not pointless features and I can see both sides of the argument for adding options to make these games easier. But either way, there are accessibility features that could have greatly improved quality of life in most of the games nominated without even touching on the difficulty argument.
Hollow Knight: Silksong lacks accessibility menus for things like colour-blind features and features for those with hearing loss, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has small text with low contrast. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has ironically obscured its subtitles, placing them in front of light-coloured cutscenes with no settings to up the contrast or add a background, and as one accessibility reviewer points out, cinematic black bars that the developers could have easily placed them in instead.
White text overlayed on a white character, making it very tough to read. Source: game-lover.org
But there is something important to consider about the three games I just mentioned as examples – while the Game of the Year category doesn’t have any crossover with the accessibility category, it has plenty with another important one: Best Indie.
Put your money where your industry is
Four of the six games that are nominated for GOTY this year are made by independent developers, several of whom run small teams. While many will be cheering the rise of independent games at this years awards, the demise of larger productions, with bigger budgets, is impacting the accessibility trend.
It makes sense. Less money in the industry leads to more game studios not being able to implement every accessibility change they might want to make. Especially expensive changes such as full audio descriptions.
“I think that’s where it’s disappointing to look at these games that are up [for Game Of The Year] now, there are definitely things that they could have done without too much effort,” says CEO of independent studio Split Atom Labs, Aaron Vernon. His mobile game, Land of Livia was nominated for an Apple Design Award due to its accessibility features.
“Game adoption metrics are being lost to things like watching someone stream a game on Twitch because it’s easier.”
Vernon’s reluctant however to berate the industry over accessibility. “The reality is that the games industry is in a very difficult position,” he says. “Anyone who manages to ship and survive, that’s just a credit to them to do that at all.”
His advice: “Look at what you could ship next week that would move the needle a little bit. That’s the kind of mentality we need here. “It’s a spectrum and anything you do is better than nothing.”
Despite broader industry headwinds, Joshua Wong is optimistic about the amount developers are doing for accessibility. He says that while The Game Awards are a fun concept, they can never reflect everyone’s tastes or the significant impact a game can have on one person.
“I doubt that Croc 2 was anybody’s game of the year in 1999 but for me, it was the start of a hobby that would see me through the most physically painful experiences of my life.”
I think that while this is true, the 2025 Game Of The Year category highlights a worrying industry symptom created by losing people and funding: that accessibility becomes even more of an afterthought.
But if people keep speaking out and companies keep taking little steps forward, we can make games more accessible for everyone.
- Naomi Jackson writes for Infinite Lives.
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