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The start of 2019 brings about a new change involving future video game releases. In 2010, a law called the Communications and Video Visibility Act was passed in the United States which required media to be accessible to those of varying or disabled capabilities. Since then, the Electronic Software Association, (ESA), has appealed for a waiver that allowed video games to be exempt from this law. However, as of 2019, the waiver has expired, and all video games with development cycles starting in 2019, or pre-existing games with major updates in 2019 must adhere to the CVAA, lest they be fined by the FCC.

• Games that enter development after this date must be fully compliant.
• Games already in development after this date but released after it must be as compliant as possible, how far through development the game was at Dec 31st may be taken into account in case of a complaint.
• Games released before this date that receive substantial updates after it must also be compliant.

Something to note, is that the CVAA does not force all games to cater or tailor their gameplay to those with disabilities, but instead it means that communications aspects within gaming must be accessible. Game chats will need to ensure certain things, with examples such as their in-game chat UI's being readable to those with eyesight issues, or that voice communication is easy to use if it's an option as an alternative to reading chatlogs, or gaming chats having a text-to-speech toggle. This law focuses on the social aspect of gaming, rather than gameplay.

Source

 

[ThoD]

It will be probably GBATEMP: Safe Space Edition

Also add in-game cheats to make easier for people with disabilities to beat the game.

Just kidding!!!

Anyway, as Deaf gamer that relies on ASL to communicate, it would be interesting news, so it means they want to mandate on subtitles in all games.

In-game cheats can actually be implemented very nicely and work without breaking the game, from insignificant ones to more important ones and simply make the broken OP cheats (eg: invincibility) let you play fine but prevent you from registering scores (eg: Operation - Vietnam, easily forgotten but great NDS game) and whatnot or make cheats unlock as reward (eg: Ratchet and Clank series). And I actually low-key want subtitles always on in games, I hate how some games don't have subs or have them off as default...

 

[gman666]

For those who don't read the OP, put down the pitchforks. This relates only to communications. Not gameplay.

tldr: Game chats and voice chat need to be made easily accessible for everyone of varying traits. Gameplay is not held to this.

Lmao I'm sure everyone thought they'd have to play their games with a wheel chair accessory.

 

[DarkCoffe64]

I think a better course of action would be to just remove text and voice chat from games.
With how toxic most of my experiences were, that'd make games much more fun to play online. :v
If you think I'm being serious here, think again

 

[DarthDub]

Maybe this will fix Nintendo Switch Online.

 

[XDel]

Ohnoes, online chat in games/chat apps will be forced to add accessibility options like Windows has had for decades. Surely this means facism imminent! /s

Oh, this only pertains to on-line chat?

 

[SG854]

This is the end of gaming as we know it. The world just hates gamers. Pack your bags and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

 

[Bladexdsl]

too bad this wasn't around when they released Xenoblade Chronicles X! you need binoculars to read that fucking text!

 

[RedoLane]

Fantastic news. As a former activist in the ASD community, this was a problem for a few people I know who love online gaming but have a hard time keeping up with the in-game chat at the same time(due to text being too small for them or the lack of voice chat).
Yes, there are plenty of online games with the option to change settings to make it more accessible, but there's no way to tell when these settings are available once a game is about to come out, so this new legislation might deliver justice for these kind of people.
Personally, as a person with Asperger's Syndrome, I don't feel those sort of issues, but if that's gonna help a lot of other people, then I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

 

[YamiZee]

My only worry is if it dissuades Japan from porting as many games if the changes required are too expensive. They have to translate them anyway so it's probably not an issue. But it is extra work.

 

[ThoD]

My only worry is if it dissuades Japan from porting as many games if the changes required are too expensive. They have to translate them anyway so it's probably not an issue. But it is extra work.

Well, good thing is it's just the US so EU ports will still happen just fine

 

[Fugelmir]

With all due respect, why not stick to games that fit your liking instead of trying to make all games be a certain way? There's tons of different games that appeal to tons of different people. Some of us like complex stories, why try to change that?

That would be like changing books to be in one category. It might make a small group happy but a larger group unhappy. Would you really want that?

TIMMY! ImLivinaLIe!

 

[Arras]

I can get text-to-speech or font size changes for text based chat being doable without too much issue, but handling voice chat could be difficult. You'd need automatic subtitles, which are questionable quality even if you let Google do it - especially considering most voice chat is really bad quality and hard to understand even if you're not hearing impaired. Overall though, this doesn't sound like a bad thing.

 

[Noctosphere]

disabilities like... blindness?

 

[Justinde75]

The only thing I could really think about is text to speech for chats or something, but I dont really get how you are going to make it easier for people with mental disabilities

 

[FAST6191]

I suppose the easier option will be to disable, kick to system level or otherwise make chat a third party affair.

I will have to see specifics here as well -- my previous tanglings with disabilities acts in the US have shown them to be rather broad and ambiguous. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/...les-to-the-disabled-then-find-plaintiffs.html for an example of the fun than can ensue.

"readable to those with eyesight issues"
Means what exactly?

 

[The Minish LAN]

Great, surprised this wasn't a thing already.

 

[kevin corms]

I was expecting more bad news, but this is good.

 

[Kioku]

That’s a relief. I read this thread before and freaked out.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/video-game-now-required-by-law-to-be-accessible-for-everyone.527875/

That thread was a mess and initially had me believing something completely different than the intended response.

 

[Deleted member 445482]

Only mentally disabled plays online games

Only mentally disabled insult gamer on gaming website.

I'm ok with this as long as it's just something that you don't have to enable.

 

[LightyKD]

GOOD! Maybe now, developers will STOP making games with small ass text. Just because a game is developed with a PC using a monitor does NOT mean that everyone is using a monitor to play a game. Even with PC gaming, I'm a couch gamer. This nonsense of small text needs to go.