GAconf Awards 2024: The Award-Winning Games
- Daniele Scibetta
- Oct 1
- 6 min read
The winners of the GAconf Awards 2024 were revealed on January 29, 2025. These annual awards celebrate the greatest innovations in the gaming world, all those technologies, studios and titles that have been found to be most accessible to people with disabilities over the previous year.
What is the GAconf Awards 2024?
In recent years, attention to disability and inclusion has grown significantly, affecting various fields from schools to technology, including the world of video games, where an increasing number of initiatives are emerging.
This is the case of the GAconf Awards (Game Accessibility Conference Awards), a conference that annually celebrates the achievements achieved in video game accessibility at all levels, from technologies to promoted research, including those titles that in the previous year stood out for the implementation of accessible options.
The conference took place during the week of November 25th to December 1st, featuring 19 categories, selected by a panel of experts. The winners were announced on January 29th and decided by a combination of public and jury voting. Let's take a detailed look at the entries and the winners for each category.
Awards for excellence in gaming
Excellence in Triple AAA
Accessibility in a game made with a big budget / by a big team
Proposed titles
Star Wars Outlaws
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
Winner : Star Wars Outlaws
Configurable gameplay contrast, detailed menu narration including HUD updates and world map accessibility for the blind, UI size and contrast, and audio description for cinematics.
Automation and assists are integrated into the design thanks to the companion Nix who can attack, pick up objects and see through walls.
Wide range of assistance settings, including auto-walk, auto-vault and auto-jump, automatic perfect reload of the blaster, different difficulty levels even for the minigames.
No info only via audio, detailed subtitles and description window of the conversions with the NPCs, audio focus mode to set the relevant sounds during gameplay by filtering out secondary or environmental ones.
Wide range of settings for reducing motion sickness (nausea)
Excellence in the Indies
Accessibility in a game made on a limited budget / by a small team
Proposed titles
Periphery Synthetic
Another Crab's Treasure
Botany Manor
Pine Hearts
Plucky Squire
Winner : Another Crab's Treasure
Wide range of gameplay modifiers in a Soulslike game, including a one-shot kill by giving the crab a gun.
The most up to date
The title that has received the most accessibility updates, mods, remakes/remasters
Updated titles
STAR WARS: Jedi Survivor
Spider-Man 2
Diablo IV
Star Wars Outlaws
Toby Doom Mod 7 & 7.5
Winner : Diablo IV
Extensive updates, including character highlighting, mission objective markers, an always-visible compass, multi-level audio guidance for the visually impaired, and screen reader improvements.
Awards for types of disability
Improved Accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Accessibility for deaf or hard-of-hearing players
Proposed titles
Skull & Bones
Spider-Man 2 caption update
Star Wars Outlaws
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Winner : Star Wars Outlaws
No info only via audio, detailed subtitles and description window of conversions with NPCs, activation of visual cues for minigames, text options for size and bold, audio focus mode to set the relevant sounds during gameplay by filtering out secondary or environmental ones.
Better motor accessibility
Accessibility for players with motor disabilities
Proposed titles
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Soundtown
Just Dance 2025
Star Wars Outlaws
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Winner : Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Intelligent Movement for auto sprint, auto vault, low cover and low coves, available in PVP.
Improved accessibility for the blind and visually impaired
Accessibility for blind and visually impaired players
Proposed titles
Periphery Synthetic
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Star Wars Outlaws
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Toby Doom Mod 7 & 7.5
Winner : Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Updated navigation for the visually impaired, added multi-level sound cues for navigating to map markers and mission destinations.
Improved cognitive accessibility
Accessibility for players with neurodivergent and cognitive/learning disabilities
Proposed titles
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Star Wars Outlaws
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Botany Manor
Winner : Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Guided mode with extra map help, a no-consequence training area, and a 'memory snippet' feature for pinning screenshots to the map.
Better accessibility for mental health
Accessibility for trauma, phobias and other mental health conditions
Proposed titles
Home Safety Hotline
Until Dawn remake
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
Alan Wake 2 v1.15
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Winner : Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
Configurable sensitive content alert system (e.g. violence, bereavement, suicide, trauma, etc.).
Awards for representation and communication
Best Performance
Best Representation of Characters with Disabilities
Proposed titles
The Sims 4
Hellblade 2
Rainbow Six Siege
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Just Dance 2025
Winner : Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Character editor with patterns dedicated to vitiligo and cataracts, companion with realistic prosthetic arms and legs thanks to the collaboration of artist consultants and animators.
Better communication and marketing
Efforts achieved in sharing and promoting accessibility work, and sharing & promoting made accessible.
Winner : Access-Ability Summer Showcase
Showcase showcasing upcoming accessible games, featuring guest consultants and players with disabilities, subtitles in ASL (American Sign Language), BSL (British Sign Language), and AD (audio description).
Awards for innovation and research
Best Innovation in Accessibility
New steps forward in the industry
Proposed titles
Diablo IV
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Byowave Proteus
Gamescom
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Winner : Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
“Memory Fragments” feature to pin screenshots to the map.
Best adaptive technology
New or improved adaptive technologies
Proposed technologies
PlayStation Access Controller
Microsoft Adaptive Joystick Button
XAC firmware updates
8BitDO Lite SE for Xbox
ByoWave Proteus
Winner : ByoWave Proteus
Fully modular adaptive controller
Best resource on accessibility
Resources for players or developers
Proposed technologies
Winner : Xbox Accessibility Workshop Toolkit
Resources on how to run accessibility workshops
Best Journalism
Article on video game accessibility
Proposed articles
Why games need a thriving third-party accessibility scene , by Geoffrey Bunting
How Accessible Hardware Bridges the Gap Between Individuals and Options , by Grant Stoner
Playing Pokémon By Ear , by Stephen Totilo
Xbox at Gamescom , by Antonio Martinez
A Prominent Accessibility Advocate Worked With Studios and Inspired Change. But She Never Actually Existed , by Grant Stoner
Winner : A Prominent Accessibility Advocate, by Grant Stoner
Best Academic Research
Academic article published on accessibility in video games
Proposed articles
Surveyor: Facilitating Discovery Within Video Games for Blind and Low Vision Players , by Vishnu Nair et al
Detecting Discrepancies between Subtitles and Audio in Gameplay Videos with EchoTest , by Ian Gauk et al
Representation of Invisible Disability: Exploring the Lived Experience of Teenagers with ADHD to Inform Game Design , by Kathrin Gerling et al
“I may only be able to sit through 30 minutes”: Gaming Sickness and Its Impact on Players' Experiences With Games , by Anna Chen et al
Playing on Hard Mode: Accessibility, Difficulty and Joy in Video Game Adoption for Gamers with Disabilities , by Jesse J Martinez et al
Winner : Surveyor, by Vishnu Nair et al
Awards to people and companies
The busiest publisher
The publisher who has made the most significant or most consistent efforts in terms of accessibility
Proposed titles
Electronic Arts
PlayStation Studios
Ubisoft
Xbox Games Studios
Rebellion
Winner : Ubisoft
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown + updates, Star Wars Outlaws + updates, Monopoly, Skull & Bones, XDefiant, Just Dance 2025, Just Dance VR, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Forward, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, Outlaws creator engagement.
The busiest studio
The publisher who has made the most significant or most consistent efforts in terms of accessibility
Proposed titles
Blizzard Team 3
Ubisoft Massive
Ubisoft Kyiv
Rare
Respawn
Winner : Ubisoft Kyiv
Developing accessibility features for all Ubisoft titles.
MVP award for unsung hero
An individual developer without a large public presence, who carries out significant and ongoing efforts within a company (may also include those working in accessibility-related roles)
Proposed titles
Jennissary, Descriptive Video Works
Kaitlyn Jones, Xbox
Jordan DeVries, Respawn
Joost Peters, Ubisoft Massive
Dear Watterton, Rebellion
Winner : Cari Watterton
Leading accessibility across all Rebellion games and initiatives.
The Award for the Defense of Rights
It can be awarded to both developers and people outside of development—anyone who has used their voice to make a difference in promoting accessibility across the entire gaming industry.
Proposed titles
Mathew Allcock (The Wobbly Gamer)
Antonio Martinez
Mollie Evans (LittleMoTAC)
Elisabeth Sivertsen (Arevya)
Marijn Rongen (ActiveB1t)
Winner : Mathew Allcock (The Wobbly Gamer)
A visually impaired lawyer, consultant, content creator, and streamer working to improve visual accessibility.
Like every year, the GAconf Awards demonstrate the commitment of developers and the importance it has for communities and researchers dedicated to making gaming accessible to people with disabilities. Do you agree with the awards? Which innovation impressed you the most?
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