Ubisoft has taken a significant step toward more inclusive game development with the global release of Chroma, an open source accessibility tool designed to help developers accommodate colorblind players. Now available on GitHub, Chroma offers real-time colorblindness filters that can be integrated into virtually any game—regardless of the engine it was built on.
First revealed at the Game Accessibility Conference this week, Chroma has been in development since 2021 by Ubisoft’s Quality Control team in India. The tool simulates the three most common forms of color blindness—Protanopia, Deuteranopia, and Tritanopia—allowing developers to experience and adjust their in-game visuals through the lens of players affected by these conditions.
Approximately 300 million people worldwide are impacted by some form of color vision deficiency, making tools like Chroma more important than ever in today’s gaming landscape. What sets Chroma apart is its non-intrusive performance: it operates in real time without adding any lag or processing burden to the system. This means developers can use it during the creative and testing phases without sacrificing gameplay speed or quality.
According to Ubisoft, one of the biggest technical hurdles the team faced during development was ensuring smooth, real-time processing without introducing latency or visual inaccuracies. “The team faced and overcame significant challenges while building it,” said Jawad Shakil, Chroma’s product manager. “By collaborating closely with accessibility experts and refining the tool based on feedback, we created a solution that eliminated lag and inaccuracies, making accessibility testing efficient and smooth.”
Ubisoft’s Director of Accessibility, David Tisserand, emphasized the company’s desire for the tool to be community-driven: “We invite everyone to benefit from it, provide feedback, and contribute to its future development.” The move toward open source not only democratizes accessibility testing but also empowers small indie studios and larger developers alike to adopt more inclusive design principles without the need for proprietary software.
Chroma can be easily integrated into development pipelines and used during game design reviews, art direction meetings, and user experience testing. It provides a visual overlay or simulation layer that allows dev teams to assess whether key gameplay elements—like HUDs, enemy indicators, health bars, and puzzle elements—remain visible and distinct under various colorblind conditions.
The release comes at a time when accessibility in gaming has taken center stage, with more studios embedding features such as remappable controls, screen readers, and visual customization options into their titles. Chroma adds a powerful, streamlined option to that toolkit.
As game accessibility continues to evolve, Ubisoft’s release of Chroma reflects a larger industry trend: building not just games, but experiences that can be enjoyed by everyone from the very beginning of development. Whether you’re part of a AAA studio or an indie team, Chroma is now freely available to help bring your vision to a wider audience.
