U.S. Video Games at an Inflection Point: Accessibility a Key Benefit for Players and Games Developers

The U.S. video game industry is at an inflection point. Collectively, we’re facing headwinds we haven’t experienced since 2008. Higher interest rates, availability of capital, incredible competition for talent, and a consumer base eager to see how our industry’s artists, storytellers, and creators will push artistic and technological boundaries. And while those challenges call for a time of serious strategic and careful planning, there’s also every reason to be hopeful looking ahead to 2024.

The path forward and key to success is what it’s always been and surprisingly straightforward – earning more money than is spent. How to do that? That’s admittedly trickier. Gearbox has a long history of success by providing that community with creating world-class entertainment. That value proposition is critical. We always work to ensure that our fans feel like they got the better end of the deal when they purchase our content.

We also have been a leader in accessibility, which opens the market to a host of new players. Millions of Americans have auditory, visual, and motor disabilities and, too often, they’re excluded from video games, the modern lifeblood of home entertainment. We make accessibility an entertainment priority now and for the future of gaming.

Today’s video games offer the chance to feel intellectually stimulated and engaged, to socialize with others online, and to experience some of the best storytelling our generation has to offer. Video game companies failing to make content as accessible as possible locks an entire community out of that power. Every studio head or developer that does not prioritize incorporating accessible features like changing font size or allowing full controller customization unfairly restricts people with disabilities’ choices in entertainment. It’s the video game equivalent of being told you can’t see two thirds of the movies in a theater because the chairs aren’t designed for you, or that you don’t have the ears to properly hear a song on Spotify. They are being told they can’t enjoy the same content as everyone else because of factors outside of their control. It’s an injustice that we must correct.

Expanding accessibility in video games is the right thing to do. Right now, too few companies are building games with everyone’s needs in mind. The companies that prioritize this sooner rather than later will reap the benefits: favorable coverage of their game and inroads with a community that is incredibly passionate and loyal.

Gearbox Software develops products with accessibility in mind. On a recent title, Borderlands 3, everything from font size to the controller could be adjusted to match the user’s preferences. We also launched Borderlands Science, our minigame within Borderlands 3 that helps scientists map the human gut microbiome. Recognizing that color blindness affects 5 to 10 percent of the U.S. population, we made sure the puzzle pieces were not just different colors but also different shapes.

However, growing the base is only one part of the equation. The other is attracting and retaining incredible talent and by working with incredible development teams from around the world.

We believe that maintaining long relationships with our team is possible by advancing and highlighting creativity, happiness and profit. We live into those principles in myriad ways, including creating a healthy work environment that encourages individual expression, innovative exploration, and risk-taking. We reward experimentation. We work to instill in our team an “owner-operator” mindset that empowers team members to lead, but also to pause work when they see something awry.

On the other side of the fence from our development division, we have a publishing team with offices around the world.

When our publishing division works with development studios, we make financial fairness and transparency a priority. The hard reality is that video game publishers often hold the power when working with less established developers, meaning the onus is on us to level the financial playing field.

Gearbox Publishing gives our development partners deep insight into our financial forecasts and publishing capabilities for their titles. We don’t make promises we can’t keep, and we don’t put pen to paper until our friends on the other side of the table have all the information they need.

This model we’ve created promotes a healthier developer-publisher dynamic that can make our industry’s success even moresustainable. When development studios are financially healthy and empowered as artists, they continue tapping trusted publishers for work. That means greater competition across the industry, a broader variety of games, and thriving local video game ecosystems.

I wrote that we’re experiencing industry challenges and some of those will likely continue to next year. However, my core belief is that the industry can continue to expand and grow by adopting some of the best practices I’ve outlined that Gearbox has found critical to our success.

This article was written by Jenna Hardy, Chief Financial Officer of Gearbox Entertainment and Secretary of MFM’s Board of Directors. Hardy leads all of Gearbox’s funding strategies and financial planning, including accounting, auditing and corporate finance. A member of Gearbox’s Executive Team, she joined the studio in 2016 after serving two decades at Warner Bros. and Disney.

Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.