Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos has donated $10,000 to the AbleGamers Foundation, a charity dedicated to bringing mainstream gaming to disabled gamers.
The nonprofit AbleGamers Foundation works to encourage game developers and publishers to make their games accessible to players of all abilities, with outreach programs, awards and even shopping guides for accessible games and hardware. Its Advisory Board includes VTree LLC President Chuck Bergen, famed modder Ben Heckendorn, aka Ben Heck, and Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Guitar Hero and Rock Band creator Harmonix, who recently forked over a fat ten grand to the organization.
“I believe that finding ways to better accommodate people with disabilities is a vitally important responsibility for the videogame industry. Harmonix is working with the AbleGamers Foundation to learn what we can do in future products to be as inclusive as possible,” Rigopulos said. “I hope that my support of the AbleGamers Foundation will inspire others within this industry to do the same.”
AbleGamers is run entirely by volunteers, explained President Mark Barlet, but is still only able to attend roughly one-quarter of the events it is invited to attend because of lack of funding. He also noted that there are roughly 33 million disabled gamers in the U.S. alone, a potentially huge and largely untapped market. “Every cent from every donation goes directly to supporting out mission,” he said. “I hope Mr. Rigopulos’ donation inspires other industry leaders to take notice of how much good a little funding can do.”
To learn more about the AbleGamers Foundation, check out ablegamers.org.
