Mark Friend
PlayStation Studios



Mark is the Accessibility Lead for PlayStation Studios. He has been working in accessibility for over 10 years and is very passionate about making video games accessible for as many players as possible. During his time at PlayStation Studios he has worked on over 60 titles, including Spider-Man Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, and God of War Ragnarok.
Mark has also worked with his team to establish the User Research accessibility testing and evaluation services, produced internal accessibility guidelines and documentation, helped launch playstation.com/accessibility and the PlayStation Accessibility Tags, and has run inclusive design workshops with many of PlayStation Studios’ exclusive titles.
Mark Friend is speaking at the following session/s
Anthology of Accessibility: Research, Advocacy & Accessibility Tags
In April 2023 the PlayStation Accessibility Tags launched on the PlayStation Store. But a project of that scale didn’t happen overnight. It required robust best practices, effective user testing and involvement from the disabled community, and a company committed to accessibility.
In this talk, PlayStation Studios Accessibility Lead Mark Friend will share key learnings on how accessibility processes and culture have evolved over his 10 years at the company, as well as providing an insight into the creation and development of the PlayStation Accessibility Tags.
Session Takeaway
- The best practices for creating and using best practices
- Why it’s important to include people with disabilities in user tests, and how to effectively run accessibility research
- How to succeed as an advocate for accessibility and create a culture of inclusion at your company
- How the PlayStation Accessibility Tags were created and an insight into their development
Session speakers