About

With 429 million disabled gamers worldwide and a third of gamers identifying as disabled in the UK (BBC, 2024), accessibility to video games remains an issue. The release of “The Last of Us Part I” shows progress in developing Audio Description (AD) to improve access to video games for gamers with sight loss but due to lack of knowledge and funding, features such as real-time AD, which is crucial for gaming, continue to be inaccessible and require further research (Larrein-Morales and Mangiron, 2023). This project aims to advance our understanding of the challenges of creating AD for video games and explore potential solutions. This will be done by evaluating existing literature and conducting focus groups and playtesting sessions with gamers experiencing sight loss. These sessions and the literature review will facilitate the identification of requirements for AD in video games and the creation of a set of criteria to be met. Subsequently, a prototype will be developed to allow the criteria identified to be evaluated as well as the new AD itself to be tested with gamers experiencing sight loss. The final stage of the project will explore the possibility of automating the creation of game AD to personalise it for each player. This project will be conducted in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to ensure a user-centred approach. The results of this research will provide a basis for good AD practice guidelines for video games and the development of AI for accessibility, aligning with the nation’s strategy to become a technology superpower. Overall, research in this area will promote social inclusion by not only improving disabled gamers’ representation and quality of life, but also fostering accessible gaming for all and expanding opportunities for the disabled community as accessibility consultants and game testers.