When Shadow of the Tomb Raider released in 2018, it was at the forefront of many aspects of accessibility, showcasing how to do subtitles right and offering an in-depth variety of gameplay options. The studio's latest release, this year's Guardians of the Galaxy, once again offers a lot of options specific to the game, and so I took the opportunity to talk to Améliane F. Chiasson, Eidos-Montréal's accessibility lead. (She works with a colleague, Rodrigo Sanchez.)
In the gaming industry, accessibility lead, or chief accessibility officer, is still a fairly new job title. Accessibility officers work in different ways to make a company's products, and ultimately the company itself, more accessible. Chiasson's appointment, she tells me, is fairly recent, as the department has only existed since 2020. For Eidos-Montréal, it was a way to formalise a job Chiasson had been doing for years, when she was still working in QA and user research.