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Game Demos Need to Come Back For Many Reasons, Especially for Accessibility

Thought-provoking article by Ben Bayliss, describing how game demos were a great vehicle for testing a game’s accessibility before purchasing the game. Demos used to come on a disc bundled with PlayStation Official Magazine (and others), but in the digital era are increasingly hard to find.

Without demos, disabled gamers are forced to watch YouTube videos of other people reviewing the games, to figure out whether or not it will be accessible to them. “Major game outlets rarely touch on accessibility in our reviews or editorials that go live around launch”.

Some companies are beginning to make an effort in this area. “Ubisoft have been more proactive in inviting disabled content creators and journalists to events such as Ubisoft Forward, allowing them to spend time with the game and inform their audience specifically about accessibility”. It also “shares its efforts through blog posts and has a dedicated team“.

“Some studios such as SMG Studio and Team 17 released videos showing accessibility features available at launch. This is vital information to be sharing, but there’s a huge difference between a blog post or a short clip on accessibility features and how these actually feel in play. And that goes for both accessibility and the game as a whole in general.”

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