Mattel has announced that 80% of its global games portfolio will be colourblind accessible by the end of the year, and 90% in 2025, as part of its commitment to create more inclusive play experiences.
This shift will include the UNO brand, the world’s number one traditional game, and many more fan-favourites such as Phase 10, DOS, Blokus, and Tumblin’ Monkeys games. Given that approximately 300 million people around the world experience some form of colour-blindness, Mattel is working to break down barriers to game play and help advance awareness of those affected by colour blindness.
When creating these recent portfolio-wide changes, Mattel partnered with several experts in the colour vision deficiency field, and consulted with individuals who experience colour blindness. This included Mattel designers who themselves are colourblind, and developed custom solutions for games, such as patterns, tactile clues, and symbols, to ensure colour was not the only way to differentiate cards or components. This also follows a revolutionary launch from the UNO line in 2017 with UNO ColourADD, specifically designed for the colour-blind community.
“At Mattel, we are proud that our portfolio of games continues to bring people together – transcending languages and cultures. And this initiative to offer more colourblind accessible games is another proof point on our inclusivity journey,” said Ray Adler, Vice President, Global Head of Games at Mattel. “We’re proud to help spread awareness for the colourblind community and make our products accessible for more people, so that all fans can come together and enjoy universal gameplay.”
INCLUSIVE PLAY
In the spirit of this exciting initiative and leading into the start of summer camp season, Mattel Games will be donating colourblind accessible games to local YMCA summer camps across the US. The donation will serve as an important resource to celebrate this milestone and empower children to reach their full potential through inclusive play.
“Mattel is committed to designing products that better reflect the world today and create positive social impact. This includes bringing more representative and inclusive products to market across Mattel brands,” said Mason Williams, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Mattel.
This announcement coincides with Mattel Play It Forward Global Volunteer Week, June 24-28, which enables its iconic brands to give back to communities that need it most. Play It Forward is a designated period each year during which the Mattel global offices host a week of opportunities for employees to share their time and talents to support local nonprofits serving children and their families. This year, Mattel Games will be donating GIANT UNO decks and Tumblin’ Monkeys games to all children in attendance at activations taking place at Mattel headquarters. Both games will feature the newly updated colourblind accessible features.
ACCESSIBLE GAMES
In addition, all mobile versions of Mattel fan-favourite card games including UNO! Mobile, Phase 10 Mobile, and Skip-Bo Mobile will feature colourblind identification. Led by mobile game developer and publisher Mattel163, Mattel’s joint venture with NetEase, the new ‘Beyond Colours’ mobile decks each display a unique and unified set of symbols, such as squares and triangles for easy identification and differentiation between the classic card colours. Free to all players, the ‘Beyond Colours’ update can be enabled in a user’s personal account settings via card deck options.
The ‘Beyond Colours’ decks are the latest feature Mattel163 has developed as part of their wider plans to strive for inclusion and accessibility in mobile gaming, which began with their initial launch of UNO! Mobile in 2019. Since then, 300 million UNO! Mobile users have enjoyed the game.
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