Unity Game Engine Gets Native Support for Mac, Windows Screen Readers In Looming Update

Ian Carlos Campbell reported for Engadget last week Unity has updated its popular game engine such that the tool natively supports screen readers on both macOS and Windows. The feature is available in the Unity 6000.3.0a5 alpha, according to Campbell.

“Unity previously offered APIs for both Android and iOS’ built-in screen readers in its Unity 6.0 release, but hadn’t yet added support for Windows Narrator or macOS VoiceOver,” Campbell wrote. “With this new alpha and its eventual release as Unity 6.3, developers creating games with Unity will have access to a native screen reader in all of the engine’s major platforms. Considering how popular Unity is as a game engine, that could vastly improve the accessibility of future games.”

Campbell cites a report by Can I Play That? in which Marijn Rongen writes in part Unity’s news is significant for Blind and low vision gamers because it can “make it much easier (and cheaper) to include this essential accessibility feature for Blind players in games built with Unity,” adding “too often otherwise accessible games are still unplayable without sighted support, simply because they miss narration for the menus.”

“Supporting screen readers from Unity helps developers take this important step towards better Blind accessibility in their games,” Rongen said.

Campbell notes most game makers build their own screen-reading software, which he says oftentimes is “resource-intensive for developers to implement.” Again, last week’s news is big because Unity has built in support in its engine. In his story, Campbell shares a comment from Steve Saylor, a creator and accessibility consultant, who wrote on Bluesky Unity’s built-in support for screen readers means “the heavy lifting is done for you, and the cost of time [and] resources now is significantly lower.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve covered Unity’s accessibility efforts. In April, I wrote about the company’s 2025 Unity for Humanity Grant winners, which included those working towards greater inclusivity in gaming. Amongst the titles recognized by Unity included Jubilee Studios’ Small Talk ASL App, as well as Benvision: Melody Meets Mobility.