How Pokemon Go’s accessibility gap affects players and what Niantic could implement to make the game more inclusive
The Growing Accessibility Gap in Pokemon Go
As Pokemon Go approaches its seventh anniversary milestone in July 2023, a growing chorus of players is voicing serious concerns about the game’s glaring lack of accessibility features that have become standard across the mobile gaming industry.
With Pokemon Go’s seventh anniversary approaching, the community is demanding Niantic address the significant accessibility shortcomings that prevent many players from fully enjoying the augmented reality experience.
While veteran trainers vividly recall the summer of 2016 phenomenon that saw millions exploring their neighborhoods to catch virtual creatures, it’s astonishing that after nearly seven years of operation, the game still lacks fundamental accessibility options that would make it playable for individuals with various disabilities.
Similar to other live-service games, Pokemon Go will certainly host another anniversary celebration event as July 2023 arrives, with the community anticipating new content reveals and special features. However, an increasingly vocal segment of the player base is prioritizing functional improvements over additional creatures or cosmetic items.
Rather than requesting new Pokemon species or shiny variants, these advocates are campaigning for essential accessibility features that the gaming experience desperately needs to become inclusive for players with diverse abilities and limitations.
The movement for accessibility options gained significant momentum on TheSilphRoad subreddit community, where a dedicated player created a post headlined, “In five weeks Pokémon Go turns 7 and to this day it has no accessibility settings.”
The original poster elaborated on their concerns, stating, “During an era when competing games launch with comprehensive accessibility configurations, it represents a significant failure for Niantic that their titles launch without any such considerations whatsoever.”
Specific Accessibility Features Players Need
Over recent years, the broader video game sector has made tremendous strides in accommodating diverse player needs, implementing sophisticated features addressing color vision deficiency, customizable control schemes, text-to-speech functionality, and numerous other accessibility considerations.
Consequently, this dedicated trainer surveyed the community about which accessibility implementations they hoped to see integrated into Pokemon Go, while also proposing several specific suggestions. These encompassed specialized color blindness configurations, an option to convert quick tapping actions into press-and-hold gestures, and scalable text dimensions for improved readability.
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Beyond the basic suggestions, players have identified several critical accessibility categories that need addressing:
Visual Accessibility: High contrast modes, screen reader compatibility, reduced motion options, and alternative color palettes for players with various types of color blindness including protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia.
Motor Accessibility: Gesture customization, extended timing windows for quick-time events, single-handed operation modes, and voice control integration for players with limited mobility or dexterity challenges.
Cognitive Accessibility: Simplified menus, reduced screen clutter options, waypoint markers for navigation, and customizable notification systems to prevent sensory overload.
Real Player Challenges and Solutions
Additional community members in the discussion thread concurred that the game urgently requires these types of options, sharing personal experiences about how such implementations would directly benefit their gameplay. “Adjustable font dimensions would tremendously help me! I struggle with astigmatism in both eyes causing unstable focus,” commented one participant.
Another experienced trainer proposed implementing a toggle to minimize the brilliant white screen transitions that occasionally occur during gameplay. “I would appreciate a setting to eliminate the bright flash effects during interface transitions…Intense light flashes frequently initiate migraine episodes for me.”
Players have developed various workarounds to cope with the current limitations:
Text Size Issues: Some players use smartphone accessibility features like zoom modes, though these often interfere with game mechanics. Others avoid playing during periods of eye strain or use specialized blue light filtering glasses.
Photo-Sensitivity Concerns: Players prone to seizures or migraines often play with reduced screen brightness or during daytime hours only. Some avoid certain game elements known to trigger flash effects entirely.
Motor Skill Adaptation: Gamers with physical limitations sometimes use styluses for better precision or mount devices on stable surfaces. However, these solutions don’t address the fundamental gameplay mechanics requiring rapid, precise screen interactions.
The Path Forward for Niantic
Since accessibility within Pokemon Go has emerged as a prominent community concern in recent months, implementing even a portion of these requested features would significantly improve player satisfaction and demonstrate Niantic’s commitment to inclusive gaming.
Naturally, whether these accessibility improvements materialize remains uncertain, though the seventh anniversary presents an ideal opportunity for Niantic to address this long-standing community request.
Implementation Considerations:
Niantic could prioritize a phased rollout, beginning with the most requested features like text size adjustment and color blindness modes, which would immediately benefit the largest number of players. More complex features like gesture customization could follow in subsequent updates.
Community Impact:
Adding robust accessibility options would not only retain current players facing barriers but potentially bring back former players who abandoned the game due to accessibility issues. This expansion of the player base aligns with Niantic’s stated goals of encouraging outdoor activity and social interaction.
Industry Positioning:
As one of the most successful mobile games in history, Pokemon Go has an opportunity to set standards for accessibility in location-based gaming. Implementing these features would position Niantic as an industry leader rather than a laggard in inclusive game design.
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