Harmonix Music System co-founder Alex Rigopulos has personally donated $10,000 to the disabled gaming charity the AbleGamers Foundation. The company will also work with AbleGamers to learn what it can do in the future to make games such as Rock Band and Dance Central more accessible to gamers with disabilities:
"I believe that finding ways to better accommodate people with disabilities is a vitally important responsibility for the videogame industry. Harmonix is working with the AbleGamers Foundation to learn what we can do in future products to be as inclusive as possible," said Rigopulos. "I hope that my support of the AbleGamers Foundation will inspire others within this industry to do the same."
"The gamer with disabilities is a larger market than most game makers even realize, with about 33 million in the US alone," said Mark Barlet, President of the AbleGamers Foundation. "I urge game developers who want to learn more about how to improve the accessibility of their games and support this huge gaming population to start at our site, GameAccessibility.org."
AbleGamers Foundation has pushed for greater accessibility for people with disabilities in the digital entertainment space since 2004. The organization is a 501(c) (3) public charity that runs AbleGamers.com, which provides news and reviews on the accessibility of mainstream video game titles, as well as consultation on "assistive technology."
For more information, check out AbleGamers.com.
