Accessibility by Design: Ubisoft’s New Open-Source Tool Helps Teams Build for Colorblind Players

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Accessibility by Design: Ubisoft’s New Open-Source Tool Helps Teams Build for Colorblind Players

The Free Tool Empowers Developers to Simulate Colorblindness and Integrate Inclusive Design From The Initial Stages

SAN FRANCISCO – April 14, 2025 – Today, Ubisoft announced the launch of Chroma, a real-time color blindness simulator, at the Game Accessibility Conference. Designed to bridge the gap between creative vision and accessibility, Chroma empowers developers and creators to experience their content through the eyes of users with colorblindness—paving the way for a more inclusive future in gaming and across all forms of media. Best of all, the tool is now freely available as open source, allowing teams across the industry to easily integrate it into their workflows and build with accessibility in mind from the very start.

Ubisoft’s Quality Control team based in India designed and led the development of Chroma, a tool built to address challenges faced by players with colorblindness, improving their experience. The solution was created in response to key insights from Ubisoft’s development teams, who identified critical pain points and collaborated on implementation. Taking full ownership from problem identification to solution delivery, the team focused on building a tool that helps teams test and create content that’s more inclusive and accessible for players with colorblindness. With inputs from David Tisserand [Director, Accessibility] and Ian Hamilton [Consultant, Accessibility], the team developed a high-precision tool that applies colorblindness filters to game content in real time without any performance impact. Chroma uses the Color Oracle algorithm, ensuring accurate and reliable simulations that reflect real-world visual impairments.

Ubisoft’s Director of Quality Control, Ritu Chowdhary, said, “At Ubisoft, open-sourcing Chroma is our pledge to the future—where accessibility isn’t a feature, but a mindset, and inclusive design elevates the experience for every player. Proud of our Quality Control team based in India for leading with purpose, confidence, and heart.”

With Chroma, creators can now pinpoint and resolve design decisions that don’t meet accessibility guidelines for colorblindness. It will allow users to assess the accessibility of games for colorblind players much faster and more exhaustively than they were able to before. From game development and user interface design to digital art, software development, and even filmmaking, Chroma offers professionals across industries an unprecedented opportunity to design with empathy and precision.

Jawad Shakil, Ubisoft Quality Control Project Manager said, “Chroma was created with a clear purpose—making color blindness accessibility a natural part of the creative and testing process. The team faced and overcame significant challenges while building it, such as real-time performance issues and finding the right algorithm to power Chroma. By collaborating closely with accessibility experts and refining the tool based on feedback, the team created a solution that eliminated lag and inaccuracies, making accessibility testing efficient and smooth. Chroma is a testament of the team's innovation and dedication; their work already making a difference in how we design games with accessibility in mind. Open-sourcing Chroma is a proud step forward, allowing everyone to benefit from this innovation.”

Chroma is available today as an open-source tool, and Ubisoft invites developers, Quality Assurance/Quality Control members, artists, and accessibility advocates from around the world to use, improve, and build on it.

Access The Tool

The open source tool is now available for use by industry professionals. Please visit the link below to access the tool today: https://github.com/ubisoft/UbiChroma