Fourteen independent studios have signed a shared accessibility commitment called the Open Controls Pledge, which was announced on the opening day of Autumn Showfloor 2026. Signatories agree that every game they release from January 2027 onward will meet a fixed baseline of accessibility features on day one, rather than adding them in post-launch patches.
The pledge was drafted over the summer by the Open Controls Working Group, a volunteer group of accessibility consultants and developers, with input from disabled players who tested early versions of the checklist. Signatories include Saltmarsh Games (Tidebreak), Little Paper Kite (Kitebound), Quiet Static (Signal to Noise), Gilded Cartridge (Sunken Crown), Parcel Gravity (Low Orbit Courier), Meadowlight (Wildgrass), and Small Hours (The Long Winter Road).
What studios are promising
- Full remapping of every input on every supported platform, including menus.
- Subtitles with adjustable size, background opacity, and speaker names, on by default.
- No essential information conveyed by color or sound alone.
- Hold and rapid-press inputs that can be switched to toggles.
- A published accessibility feature list before preorders open.
Most of this costs very little if you plan for it from the beginning, and a great deal if you try to bolt it on after launch. The pledge is really a promise to plan for it.
Ines Achebe, coordinator of the Open Controls Working Group, at the Autumn Showfloor announcement
Several signatories said their current games already meet most of the baseline. Saltmarsh noted that Tidebreak’s new Calm Seas assist was designed with the pledge in mind, and Parcel Gravity pointed to the assist menu it will ship with Low Orbit Courier in November. The working group says it will publish an annual report on whether signatories have kept their commitments, and that it is in talks with several larger studios about joining in 2027.
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