Positive Play

At Electronic Arts, creating games, stories and characters that are inclusive and as diverse as our player community is a central part of our mission to Inspire the World to Play. But, to inspire the world to play, we must design stories, characters, experiences and services that resonate with all players, and can be technically accessible to a diverse audience of varying abilities. 

Across Electronic Arts, our teams have long been committed to Positive Play, inclusive design and accessibility in our games and experiences. Throughout the past year, this includes introducing our Positive Play Charter that outlines how players enjoy and create positive experiences with our games and communities, as well as launching an industry-first Patent Pledge for Increasing Accessibility. The pledge allows royalty-free use of our innovative accessibility-centered technology patents as one step on the path to making all games more accessible to players of all abilities.

We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, but there is still more to do. Now we’re evolving and taking our Positive Play Group to the next level by incorporating our accessibility strategy into the Positive Play Group, specifically within the Inclusive Player Experience (IPeX) team. Leveraging the power of the IPeX team to strengthen the operational scalability of accessibility efforts across our entire organization is an important step to furthering our mission to eliminate barriers that prevent play.

While the IPeX name may be new to our player community, it’s work is not. The team’s vision is to make every player feel welcome, seen, heard & supported, without any barriers to play. The IPeX team supports the creation of inclusive, diverse and accessible play experiences for everyone. 

IPeX spearheads EA’s Inclusive Design approach that encourages us to consider how gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity, socio-economic background, culture & customs, body shapes and sizes, religious beliefs and more shape the way we interact with the world. Importantly, Inclusive Design is about building products and services that are accessible and playable by gamers of all skill levels and abilities and ensuring that people with disabilities have full and unencumbered access to our games and experiences. 

The IPeX team is led by Tülay McNally, EA’s Director of Inclusive Design. She has long championed inclusive design and was one of the initial creators of the first-ever Inclusive Design Framework – a core set of filters designed to help EA studios develop more inclusive characters and stories across all of its games. That framework is now a core part of EA’s culture and embedded within our studio and development teams. 

Now with accessibility strategy as a key team within IPeX, we’ll continue to achieve new milestones to ensure EA’s games reflect diverse communities and believable experiences, that the games can be played by all skill levels, and are welcoming of all people in ways that are meaningful to them.  

Learn more about our ongoing commitments to Positive Play in our Positive Play Charter.