The Gaconf Accessibility Awards is set to take place this week and will once again highlight the importance of accessibility in games.
As part of the Game Accessibility Conference the awards show will place this January 25th, at 9 AM PST/5 pm GMT. The awards themselves act as a continued way to draw focus to the efforts made within the gaming industry to improve accessibility options.
Accessibility in video games is incredibly important, as it is a medium that promotes a sense of escapism. Everyone should be able to enjoy games and feel like their needs are at the very least being acknowledged. By including accessibility features this ensures that both disabled and non-disabled players can tailor the gaming experience to their needs.
The GAconf Awards
The Gaconf awards are part of the industry-wide movement to recognise the developers who are setting new benchmarks for accessibility in gaming. The awards themselves highlight the efforts made in 18 different categories from across the industry. These vary from triple-A excellence to best academic research. In addition the ceremony will highlight the most dedicated publishers and the best representation of disability.
The awards ceremony will be hosted by accessibility advocate, Steve Saylor. A whole host of accessibility stars are set to present the categories including, Phil Spencer of Xbox, SightlessKombat, Mark Friend of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and various others. Of course accessibility at the event itself is also a priority. The ceremony will feature audio descriptions for blind viewers, signing in ASL and BSL, and various subtitles for languages.
The categories for the awards are as follows –
- AAA Excellence
- Indie Excellence
- Best Deaf / Hard of Hearing accessibility
- Best physical / mobility accessibility
- Best blind / low vision accessibility
- Best cognitive accessibility
- Best representation
- Best journalism
- Best academic research
- Best resource
- Most accessible gaming event
- Hardware innovation
- Most improved
- Biggest accessibility surprise
- Most dedicated publisher
- Most dedicated studio
- MVP award for most dedicated developer
- The advocacy award
The awards are broadcast on YouTube with an official watch party also taking place on discord. Last year we saw the Game Awards take place which also has a category to celebrate innovation in accessibility, God of War Ragnarök came away as the winner of that category.
Paige Cook is a writer with a multi-media background. She has experience covering video games and technology and also has freelance experience in video editing, graphic design, and photography. Paige is a massive fan of the movie industry and loves a good TV show, if she is not watching something interesting then she's probably playing video games or buried in a good book. Her latest addiction is virtual photography and currently spends far too much time taking pretty pictures in games rather than actually finishing them.
