Steam Accessibility Features and Accessible Games Initiative Comparison

Introduction

On April 22, 2025, Steam announced the addition of Accessibility Feature searching coming to its store and desktop client. Later this year, players will be able to search for games with accessibility support using 16 tags across gameplay, visual, audio, and input categories. Developers can already begin adding this information to their game pages through Steamworks “Edit Store” section in preparation for the public rollout.

Steam’s tags share notable overlap with the 24 accessibility tags published by the Accessible Games Initiative (AGI), a cross-studio collaboration that includes Electronic Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, and Ubisoft. The goal of AGI is to establish consistent accessibility feature expectations across platforms. Steam’s terminology and descriptions closely mirror AGI’s tags, but important differences exist in their criteria.

In this article, we breakdown Steam’s Accessibility Features alongside guidance on how these features differ from recently released the AGI’s Developer-Facing Requirements. Our goal is to assist developers working across multiple platforms by identifying discrepancies early. This can help prevent unnecessary rework caused by mismatched tag expectations.

Note: Steam’s Accessibility Features are supported with “Recommendations.” For comparison, we interpret these recommendations equivalent to AGI’s required criteria.

Player-Facing Usage

Players will be able to search for games with specific accessibility features on the Steam search page. Players will be able to customize their game searches by selecting their desired features from a checklist. Players will also be able to view accessibility features for a specific game on the right side of its store page alongside other information such as controller support. The tags will appear later this year, when developers have had the chance to add them to their games.

Developer-Facing Usage

As part of the Edit Store view for each game in Steamworks, developers are now provided an Accessibility section. Selecting Start Wizard begins the Accessibility Feature Wizard. In this window, developers will be walked through a series of questions to self-identify their game’s accessibility feature support. Developers are presented with a set of criteria and options for describing whether your game meets that criteria.

Steam Accessibility Features Overview

Gameplay

• Adjustable Difficulty: Players can adjust gameplay difficulty.
• Save Anytime: Players can save gameplay using both automatic and manual saves. Saving can be performed at any point in the game.

Audio

• Custom Volume Controls: Players can adjust the volume of the audio. Different types of audio can be muted independently from each other.
• Narrated Game Menus: Players can listen to game menus with narrated audio.
• Stereo Sound: Players can identify how far to the left or right sounds are coming from.
• Surround Sound: Players can identify how far in any direction sounds are coming from.

Visual

• Adjustable Text Size: Players can adjust text size. (In-game text, menu text, character dialog text, subtitle text)
• Subtitle Options: Players have options to customize the display of subtitles for all spoken content and essential audio information.
• Color Alternatives: Gameplay doesn’t rely on colors to communicate important information, or players have an option to adjust colors used for distinguishing information.
• Camera Comfort: Players have an option to adjust or disable uncomfortable camera movement such as screen shaking, camera bob, or motion blur, or the game doesn’t feature these effects.

Input

• Keyboard Only Option: Players can play the game with just a keyboard and no other additional input mechanisms such as a mouse or controller.
• Mouse Only Option: Players can play the game with just a mouse and no other additional input mechanisms such as a keyboard or controller.
• Touch Only Option: Players can play the game with just touch controls and no other additional input mechanisms such as a mouse, keyboard or controller.
• Playable without Timed Input: Players have an option to adjust gameplay to not require precisely timed button presses (“quick time events”) or gameplay does not require such button presses.
• Text-to-Speech: Text chat can be narrated out loud in real time.
• Speech-to-Text: Voice chat can be read as a text transcript in real time.

Adjustable Difficulty

Importance: Difficulty settings allow players to match their experience to their abilities and preferences. For example, difficulty designed to be engaging for a player with full mobility might be frustrating for a player with limited mobility. Players can look for this tag to know they can adjust their experience accordingly

Recommendations:

• If possible, provide granular controls over difficulty settings. For example, an FPS might allow adjusting enemy health, aim assist, one-hit kills, or invulnerability.
• When providing preset difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard, etc.) explain the difference between the levels.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

This tag is similar to the AGI tag “Difficulty Levels”. It requires multiple preset difficulty levels, and providing at least one difficulty level that significantly reduces the intensity of the challenges.

Save Anytime

Importance: Players may need to be able to safely stop playing at any time. Players can look for this tag to know that they won’t lose significant progress if interrupted.

Recommendations:

• Let players save at any time, except during loading, or if loading the save would cause game-breaking scenarios.
• Allow both manual saving and auto-saving, and use separate save slots for both types of saves. Don’t have auto-saves overwrite manual saves.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Save Anytime” requires at least one manual save slot that is separate from auto-save slots. The player must be able to resume exactly where they saved, even if it’s mid-scene (such as during a boss fight or race). Quick-saves qualify as a type of manual save.

Custom Volume Controls

Importance: Players may need to reduce distracting sounds so that they can focus on sounds that they need to hear. Players can look for this tag to know that they can adjust the relative levels of different types of sound in the game.

Recommendations:

• Provide separate volume controls for music, sound effects, ambient audio, and character speech.
• The more distinct volume controls you can provide, the better. For example, consider separate sliders for active sound effects (those critical to gameplay like footsteps or gunshots) and background sound effects (like traffic noise or background speech).

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

This tag is similar to AGI’s “Multiple Volume Controls”. It requires separate volume sliders for (internally handled) Voice Chat, Menu Narration, and Accessible Audio Cues. It also requires a master volume control for adjusting all game audio at once.

Narrated Game Menus

Importance: Players with low vision may rely on narration to interact with menus. Players can look for this tag to know that they can understand and use game menus without seeing the text.

Recommendations:

• Either expose your UI tree to screen readers (for example, through Microsoft UI Automation) or provide narration for all game menus and notifications.
• Narrate headings and subheadings, provide alt text for non-decorative images, and narrate the name, role and state of interactive elements (for example “Volume, slider, 60%”)
• Whenever context changes, such as switching between screens, narrate the new context. This includes user-initiated changes such as switching tabs, and game-initiated changes like leaving a loading screen.
• Allow users to enable narration as soon as possible when launching the game for the first time, or start with it enabled and allow users to disable it.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI “Narrated Menus” requires either support for platform screen readers or in-game narration. It includes dynamic narration of changing contexts (like timers or matchmaking results). Previous narration must stop when UI focus changes, and mandates that the UI can be navigated with single inputs (without a cursor). Decorative elements are excluded from narration.

Stereo Sound

Importance: Players can look for this tag to know that they can tell whether sounds came from the left or right of the player.

Recommendations:

• For sounds that have an in-game location, adjust the left and right channels to indicate their relative position to the player.
• For critical gameplay sounds, consider also providing an option for a visual indicator as to the direction the sound came from.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI outlines in “Stereo Sound” that the game can automatically turn this setting on or off, based on system preferences. It’s useful to convey stereo sound in game, such as in the settings menu.

Surround Sound

Importance: Players can look for this tag to know that they can tell what direction a sound came from, in any direction including above, below, behind and ahead.

Recommendations:

• For sounds that have an in-game location, output spatial audio channels to indicate their relative position to the player.
• For critical gameplay sounds, consider also providing an option for a visual indicator as to the direction the sound came from.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

For “Surround Sound”, AGI requires that when relevant to gameplay, this audio must provide more directional information than stereo sound could communicate. Like “Stereo Sound”, the game can automatically turn this setting on or off, based on system preferences. It’s useful to convey surround sound in game, such as in the settings menu.

Adjustable Text Size

Importance: Increasing text size is useful both for players with low vision and players playing on a larger or further-away screen. Players can look for this tag to know that they can adjust the size of menu and HUD text so that they can read it clearly.

Recommendations:

• Either provide a large default text size, or allow users to increase it.
• Allow scaling text up to at least 38 pixels tall at 1080p or 76 pixels tall at 4K.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

This feature is most similar to AGI’s tag “Large Text”. It includes the same 1080p and 4K targets, but also requires 25 pixels at 720p. Requirements apply to menu and HUD text but exclude in-world text, credits, and purely decorative elements. Subtitles are evaluated under the tag “Large & Clear Subtitles” with separate size targets.

Relevant to designing text, AGI’s “Clear Text” tag specifies a minimum default text size of 17 pixels tall at 720p, 26 pixels tall at 1080p, and 56 pixels tall at 4K. Sans-serif font or an option for sans-serif is required. Text color must have a minimum contrast ratio of 4:5:1 against all backgrounds. An optional opaque background container can be used to meet contrast requirements.

Subtitle Options

Importance: Basic subtitle support can be insufficient for players with impaired vision. Providing options for background opacity, text color and size can allow players to customize the subtitles for their comfort. Players can look for this tag to know that they can enable clear, readable subtitles for all dialog.

Recommendations:

• Identify who is speaking in subtitles.
• Avoid intersecting HUD elements with subtitles, either behind or over.
• Use a readable sans-serif font.
• Provide the option for a background container, with adjustable opacity.
• Provide options for scaling the size of subtitle text, separately from UI text.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Large & Clear Subtitles” requires subtitles for all spoken content. Speaker identification and sans-serif fonts are required, but providing them as optional settings is acceptable. Subtitle minimum default height must be 32 pixels and scale to at least 46 pixels at 1080p. For other resolutions, the measurement scales accordingly. An adjustable background container is required, with an option to choose a solid black background with white text and no transparency. Subtitles must be either enabled by default or adjustable prior to their first use.

Color Alternatives

Importance: Not all players see color the same way, and colors cannot always be relied upon to communicate gameplay features. Players can look for this tag to know that they will not be required to use color to distinguish between gameplay elements, or that they can change which colors are used.

Recommendations:

• Avoid using color as the only way to differentiate important information. Provide other ways, such as shape, patterns, icons or text.
• If color is unavoidable, provide options for changing the colors used.
• Don’t rely on full-screen filters. If you provide preset modes for e.g. red/green colorblindness, also provide the ability to pick specific colors for each element.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Color Alternatives” requires that color is not used as the only way to differentiate important information. Either other visual cues represent the color’s meaning, or players can change the color-dependent elements. It specifies including information conveyed through text, such as subtitles where color alone would indicate the speaker.

Camera Comfort

Importance: Camera effects such as screen shake, motion blur and camera bob can cause discomfort or harm to some players. Players can look for this tag to know that they will be able to adjust or disable these effects.

Recommendations:

• If your game has player-controlled camera movement, allow players to adjust the speed of that movement.
• The following effects are examples of things that can cause discomfort:
  • Screen shake
  • Motion blur
  • Camera bob/sway
  • Taking control of the camera away, e.g. automatically pointing the camera at a point of interest
• Allow players to adjust the intensity of these effects or disable them entirely

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Camera Comfort” specifies requirements apply to camera movement during gameplay, not during cutscenes and cinematics.

Keyboard Only Option

Importance: Players might prefer to use only a keyboard, or are using accessibility tools that map to keyboard inputs. Players can look for this tag to know that they can play the game using only keyboard inputs.

Recommendations:

• Support binding all actions to keyboard inputs, including camera movements.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Playable With Keyboard Only” requires players can complete the game using only a keyboard, without being blocked. Optional game content may be inaccessible.

Mouse Only Option

Importance: Players might prefer to use only a mouse, or are using accessibility tools that map to mouse inputs. Players can look for this tag to know that they can play the game using only mouse inputs.

Recommendations:

• Provide ways to interact with the game using only the mouse, such as on-screen controls, or movement based on clicking.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s tag “Playable With Mouse Only” specifies the use of a 2-button computer mouse. It requires players can complete the game using only a mouse, without being blocked. Optional game content may be inaccessible.

Touch Only Option

Importance: Players might prefer to use only touch inputs, such as a touchpad or touchscreen. Players can look for this tag to know that they can play the game using only touch inputs.

Recommendations:

• Provide ways to interact with the game using only touch inputs, such as on-screen controls, or movement based on touch.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI’s “Playable With Touch Only” requires players can complete the game using only touch input, without being blocked. Optional game content may be inaccessible.

Playable without Timed Inputs

Importance: Quick time events, which require a sequence of precisely-timed button presses or button mashing, can be uncomfortable or impossible for players. Players can look for this tag to know that they can play without being required to perform these actions.

Recommendations:

• Give players a way to avoid needing to perform quick time events, such as an option to disable them, or avoid using them entirely.
• If button mashing is required for an input, give an option to hold the input instead.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

This feature is most similar to AGI’s “Playable Without Rapid Button Presses”, requiring repetitive button actions to have an alternative. Players must be able to avoid sequences with precisely-timed button presses or repeated tapping actions, including executing combos.

Text-to-Speech

Importance: Social experiences such as text chat in a game can be unavailable for players with low vision. Players can look for this tag to know that they can have text chat narrated for them.

Recommendations:

• Provide options for narrating both text chat and canned responses (such as “Good job!”)
• Provide volume options for text-to-speech that are separate from other game sounds.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI combines Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech as one tag, “Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech”. The portion relating to Text-to-Speech requires that the conversation is narrated in real-time. If the game allows voice chat, outgoing text-to-speech must be supported. With outgoing text-to-speech, players can send text messages synthesized as a voice to other players, allowing them to participate in voice chatting.

Speech-to-Text

Importance: Social experiences such as voice chat in a game can be unavailable for players with hearing impairment. Players can look for this tag to know that they can have voice chat transcribed to text for them.

Recommendations:

• Provide options for transcribing all player-to-player voice chat in real-time.
• Show transcribed voice chat in the same on-screen location as text chat so that they can be read together.

Accessible Games Initiative Difference

AGI combines Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech as a singular tag, “Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech”. The Speech-to-Text portion specifies the chat location must allow players to access the past four messages. This can be achieved by displaying the messages all at once, allowing players to scroll back, or expanding the message view.

Remaining AGI Tags

As we mentioned earlier in the article, Steam Accessibility Features promote 16 tags, while the Accessible Games Initiative (AGI) provides 24 tags. There are nine AGI tags that are not currently represented in Steam’s Accessibility Features. (Note: Steam splits AGI’s “Chat Speech-to-Text & Text-to-Speech” into two separate tags).

As you are planning features for your game, we encourage your team to explore these additional accessibility options, as they are proven to improve player experiences.

Auditory Features

• Mono Sound: Lets you play with mono audio. The same audio will be sent to all channels (e.g., both left and right headphones), effectively providing a single, combined audio channel.

Input Features

• Basic Input Remapping: Lets you rearrange the button controls. Button controls can be swapped or rearranged by some other method.
• Full Input Remapping: Lets you choose which action in the game is assigned to which control. All game controls can be remapped for all directly supported input methods, e.g. keyboard, mouse, controllers, and virtual on-screen controllers. Controller stick functionality can be swapped.
• Stick Inversion: Lets you change how direction inputs such as thumbsticks affect game movement in the up and down and left and right directions. Examples of these directional inputs include thumbsticks and flight sticks.
• Playable Without Button Holds: Lets you play without button holds. The game doesn’t require digital inputs (like keys or buttons) to be held. Some analog inputs (like sticks and triggers) may still require holds.
• Playable With Buttons Only: Lets you play using only buttons where the amount of pressure doesn’t affect the controls. The game and menus can be controlled using only digital inputs (like buttons or keys).
• Playable Without Motion Controls: Lets you play without using motion controls.
• Playable Without Touch Controls: Lets you play without using touchpads or touchscreens.

Visual Features

• Clear Text: Text in menus, control panels, and settings is a reasonable size. You can adjust the contrast. Text is at a reasonable size relative to the device’s screen resolution and typical viewing distance. Font is less stylized or can be changed to a less stylized option (sans serif). Text has, or can be adjusted to, a reasonable contrast against all backgrounds.