AbleToPlay's Games Accessibility Conference Guide

The Games Accessibility Conference (abbreviated as “GAConf”) 2025 Awards show is right around the corner! The show will be live-streamed Thursday January 29th at 10AM PST / 6PM GMT on IGDA GASIG’s YouTube channel and will also be co-streamed on IGN. There will be ASL, BSL, closed captioning, and full audio description available during the ceremony and afterward if you miss it!

The awards show features a whopping 20 categories:

• AAA Excellence
• AA Excellence
• Indie Excellence
• Best Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Accessibility
• Best Mobility Accessibility
• Best Blind & Low Vision Accessibility
• Best Cognitive Accessibility
• Best Mental Health Accessibility
• Best Representation
• Best Journalism
• Best Academic Research
• Best Assistive Technology
• Best Accessibility Resource
• Best Comms & Marketing
• Most Improved
• Greatest Accessibility Innovation
• Most Dedicated Publisher
• Most Dedicated Studio
• MVP Award For Unsung Hero
• The Advocacy Award

You can find a full list of categories and their nominees here. We’re thrilled to say that the the awards show is stacked with outstanding nominees from all categories! 2025 has truly been an breakthrough year for accessibility in gaming with more games than ever including accessibility features like high contrast mode, phobia toggles, UI and HUD menu narration, and more. The awards are decided by both a public vote an an accessibility jury.

Why does the GAConf and the awards show matter? It goes without saying that the games accessibility community has made huge strides since GAConf’s conception in the early 2000s (feelin’ old yet?) This year more award shows than ever included a “Best In Accessibility” category — 33 that we could count, including the Games For Change Awards (powered by AbleToPlay), Indie Game Awards, Playdate Community Awards, and more!

The wider accessibility community has also made significant progress with innovations like Xbox Adaptive Joystick, Nhuad controller, Switch 2 accessibility announcement, GODOT screenreader support, Safe In Our World's accessibility toolkit, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and much more. Companies, academia, and the general gaming public are increasingly embracing accessibility in their workplaces and advocating for features to be included from the start. What was once a steep wall with only a few people pushing for accessibility continues to grow smaller each year, and that is something worth celebrating!

Even AbleToPlay would not exist today without the conversation around accessibility shifting in a more positive direction and disability rights campaigns advancing worldwide. Topics that were once considered “forbidden” are becoming more widely accepted, such as discussions around autism, ADHD, PTSD, and other disabilities.

All this to say: the 2025 GAConf Awards are uniquely special, offering a moment to reflect on a landmark year. They celebrate the outstanding individuals who have worked tirelessly in the games accessibility space and continue to push the cultural needle forward. The AbleToPlay team is, of course, deeply grateful to be nominated for the Best Accessibility Resource 2025, no matter the outcome. So definitely tune in! We’ll be watching with snacks to celebrate our peers.

And more than that — welcome to 2026! We can’t wait to see what new innovations the games industry produces!

Join us at the watch party!

The AbleToPlay team will be watching on January 29th in our Discord! Meet the team behind AbleToPlay, chat about your favorite games, and celebrate the highlights of 2025 with us!