Japanese Gaming Industry Moves to Improve Accessibility

From Jiji

October 27 2025

TOKYO – The Japanese gaming industry is working to improve video game accessibility by developing equipment and systems that allow people with disabilities affecting their hands to play by using other parts of their body, such as their cheeks, feet and eyes.
   There were people playing games without using their hands at an area dedicated to accessibility at the Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September. Such an area was set up at the show for the first time.
   One of items put on display was a special gaming controller system developed mainly by Tokyo-based Technotools Corp. for Nintendo Co.’s Nintendo Switch game console.
   Depending on the person’s disability, people can control a joystick or a button with a foot or elbow. People can also play video games using eye movements, by attaching an eye-tracking device to the screen.
   Shintaro Shimada, CEO of Technotools, said that the special controller was inspired by “a person who had loved to play video games, but could no longer do so due to a progressive disease.”