Inclusive Design as Business Strategy: From Representation to Accessibility

Feb 11
5 min read

Updated: Feb 13

Gaming industry has had its fair share of public reckonings around representation and inclusion. There's no shortage of awareness about what needs to improve. The harder part? Building frameworks that make inclusion a design principle, not just a value statement.

Inclusion manifests differently across products and user bases. Over the years, I led inclusion research that drove business impact through different lenses. In a 'fashion' game with ethnically diverse players, it meant cultural representation hijabs, skin tones. In a 'puzzle' game, it meant cognitive accessibility, clearer onboarding, explicit trust signals which improved long-term retention and positioned the product far better in the competitive space.

More importantly, what surfaced time and again was this inclusive design isn't just about accommodation it's about discovering unmet needs and wants in different market segments driving retention, monetisation and acquisition.

Cultural Inclusion

The Strategic Context:

The 'fashion and lifestyle' game I worked on had a player base that was significantly more ethnically and culturally more diverse than the average mobile game market. This wasn't just a nice demographic fact, it was a strategic opportunity. We'd been hearing this feedback for years for better representation, but teams didn't know how to translate that into product decisions and what to prioritise. I brought together what we'd been hearing with what our data showed and proposed a way to make inclusion measurable, which jumpstarted real conversations about how to be more inclusive in practice.

My challenge was to turn we should be more diverse and inclusive into "here's what to build, why, and how we'll know it's working

The Research Approach:

1. Qualitative Deep-Dives (Focus Groups 6 x 4)

With diverse participants to understand what elements mattered and why
Uncovered nuances (e.g., cultural appropriation concerns vs. celebration, pandering vs authenticity)
Insights directly informed hypotheses and metrics which inclusion dimensions to track and how they might drive engagement

2. Quantifying "Inclusion and Diversity" Perception Metrics (Surveys, n=1500)

I co-created the Inclusion Metric (with Product Team). Based on qualitative insights, I partnered with the team to design a measurable framework

Tracked inclusion perception across validated dimensions: skin tone, body type, hair texture, cultural fashion, gender identity
Questions: How inclusive is this game?/ Do you see yourself represented?/ More or less inclusive than competitors?

3. Behavioral Validation (Log Analysis)

Correlated perception scores with engagement behaviors
Tracked time spent on avatar customization, IAP purchases of cultural items (hijabs, specific hair types, skin tones etc.)

The outcome Inclusion became a tracked metric alongside retention and monetisation, sparking innovation rather than operating as a constraint.

The Slow Burn of Impact

This wasn't exactly a quick win, but somewhere along the line we discovered that representation doesn't move one needle, but moves many. User experience improved, internal conversations shifted, and we saw measurable lifts in engagement, monetisation and brand perception.

Users spent significantly more time customizing avatars when culturally relevant options were available bringing engagement metrics up. Customization shifted from aesthetic tweaking to meaningful self-expression, making the game world an extension of their reality.

This also changed how the team thought about content development. Culturally specific items (hijabs, natural hair textures, diverse skin undertones) weren't niche features they were high-engagement, high-conversion content for user groups.

Business Impact:

Culturally specific customization items drove higher IAP conversion in targeted segments
Players who rated the game as inclusive had a higher NPS
Pronoun selector implementation a widely praised new feature, contributed to positive brand PR for both Kim Kardashian and EA
The inclusion metric framework was adopted across teams therafter used to evaluate all new content before and after launch, and integrated into marketing strategy for campaigns as well.

Age Inclusion in Puzzle Games

An unlikely start

This wasn't a planned study, it was a pattern I noticed while conducting another research project. During generative interviews about game motivations, I observed a consistent duality in how users thought of the Candy Crush franchise.

Younger players (18-35): 'I play when I'm bored,' 'It's mindless fun,' 'Something to do on my commute'
Older players (40+): 'It keeps my mind sharp,' 'I feel like I'm exercising my brain,' 'It helps me stay mentally active'

Same game. Completely different value propositions.

King's mission is "Making the world more playful"—and that means everyone, not just the largest segments.

When I presented the age inclusion findings, some stakeholders questioned whether it was worth designing for a smaller player segment to which I said, Isn't that the point of inclusion? That the smallest groups get represented and included?"

The Approach

I started making a case for this user type in ways more than one. Not to overstate or over account, but make them seen. Pull up numbers and data.

Behavioral analysis: Older users had longer onboarding times, lower feature adoption rates, but higher long-term retention once they understood core mechanics. They were loyalists and spent more because they saw them as
Representing this 'profile' in our user segments
- Uncover motivations: Too much information upfront vs. learning by doing
- Trust calibration: Heightened concerns about data privacy, in-app purchases (fear of accidental charges)
- Pattern recognition: Different visual scanning behaviors, needed clearer hierarchy

The Insight

Older players weren't less capable they were approaching the game with different mental models and higher stakes.

For younger players, a confusing tutorial is annoying. For older players, it triggers anxiety about 'doing it wrong' and can lead to abandonment. Similarly, promotional notifications that younger users ignore, older users interpret as pressure or unclear charges.

This wasn’t simply a UX issue, it reflected how the product was designed. In optimising for speed and short sessions, we had effectively built for one communication style and one usage style.

Understanding this resulted in better positi8oning and starting conversations ahead of regulatory re3quirements.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA), which mandates digital accessibility standards for EU markets by June 2025, would soon require exactly what our research was uncovering: clear navigation, explicit labeling, reduced cognitive load, and accommodations for diverse user needs.

By treating age inclusion as a strategic opportunity rather than compliance obligation, we built accessibility into the product proactively—avoiding the scramble many competitors would face as the deadline approached.

Business & Strategic Impact

Product Changes:

Created a persona in user segmentation framework (now used across product decisions) to include the needs, wants and pain points of this segment.
Events and content began including themes and different play styles for deeper more mindful use of time not just bite sized entertainment
Privacy/data transparency messaging improved

Business Outcomes:

55+ segment retention improved by ~5-8% post-changes
Framework positioned King ahead of regulatory curve, avoiding scramble

What I learnt: Make Diversity and Inclusion Measurable

What These Studies Taught Me About Inclusion Strategy

Inclusion reveals untapped market opportunities

Cultural customization gave rise to new revenue and engagement streams (EA)
Older user cognitive value proposition translated to long term retention play for loyal segment (King)

Measurement makes inclusion strategic, not aspirational