The Game Accessibility Conference has announced the nominees and broadcast date for the 2023 GAConf Awards, which celebrate accessibility advancements and achievements across the industry.
The awards are intended to recognize the efforts of independent developers and AAAs to make video games accessible to gamers with disabilities. Although it is the focus of the awards, the nominees are not limited to the literal development of the game. The awards also recognize advances in hardware, academic research, and journalism. The narrative also gets a nod with the representation award. This year, PlayStation Studios games including God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part 1 and Horizon Forbidden West feature prominently, as does Xbox indie As Dusk Falls.
The event will be hosted by accessibility advocate Steve Saylor. Several others will present individual awards, including SightlessKombat, Xbox’s Phil Spencer, Paul Amadeus Lane, Ubisoft’s David Tisserand, Jay Justice, Chris ‘DeafGamersTV’ Robinson, Sony Interactive’s Mark Friend and Dr. Mick Donegan.
Naturally, the event itself will also be accessible, including audio description, ASL and BSL signing, and subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.
The GAconf Awards will air on January 25 at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET. You can see the awards on the official GAconf YouTube channel or on their official Discord. The full list of categories and nominees is below.
GAconf Awards 2023 Nominees
AAA Excellence
- Forbidden Horizon West
- the last of us part 1
- god of war ragnarok
independent excellence
- as dusk falls
- sifu
- Return to Monkey Island
Better Accessibility for the Deaf/HoH
- The quarry
- god of war ragnarok
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Better physical accessibility/mobility
- Stanley’s Parable: Ultra Deluxe
- rocksmith+
- as dusk falls
Better accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision
- as dusk falls
- god of war ragnarok
- the last of us part 1
Better Cognitive Accessibility
- rocksmith+
- Return to Monkey Island
- The quarry
best representation
- Soundly Headphones/0929Lego Roblox
- Just Dance 2023 wheelchair user
- Saints Row Avatar Prosthetic
Best Journalism
Best Academic Research
best resource
Most Accessible Gaming Event
- Ubisoft forward
- Xbox at Gamescom
- A11yTOGames
hardware innovation
- PS5 operating system updates
- 8BitDo Lite SE Driver
- Microsoft Adaptive Accessories
biggest improvement
- the last of us part 1
- Dead Cells Update “Breaking Barriers”
- Deathloop Update 3
The biggest accessibility surprise
- Apple Unity Accessibility Plugin
- Forza User Research in ASL/BSL
- Microsoft Games Accessibility Basics Training
Most Dedicated Editor
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Xbox game studios
- Ubisoft
more dedicated studio
- naughty dog
- Strange
- Ubisoft Kyiv
MVP Award for Most Dedicated Developer
- Mila Pavlin, Santa Monica Studio
- David Tisserand, Ubisoft
- Guide Dev, Hearthstone Accessibility Mod
The Defense Award
- stoner grant
- Chris “Deaf Gamers TV” Robinson
- erin hawley
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