The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2023–2025
JBL Quantum Guide Play turns game visuals into spatial sound so blind players can play
JBL's free AI tool converts FPS game objects into spatial audio cues — blind players navigate Counter-Strike 2 by ear; ADFEST 2025 Innova Lotus.
JBL (HARMAN) · BLKJ Havas
What it had to solve
First-person shooters are among the world's most-played games, yet none of the leading titles were accessible to visually impaired players — an estimated 50 million people, per AbleGamers. JBL's brief from HARMAN was to prove the superiority of its Quantum gaming audio; the ambitious answer was to make an entire genre playable by sound alone.
How it works
First-person shooters dominate gaming, but their worlds are almost entirely visual. Per AbleGamers, an estimated 50 million visually impaired people worldwide were effectively locked out of the genre — none of the leading FPS titles offered any access for them.
JBL's solution, created with BLKJ Havas, treats the problem as a product, not an ad: Guide Play software uses AI and machine learning to read the objects and structures in a game and convert them into spatial sounds. Combined with JBL Quantum's head-tracking and Spatial Audio, the result emulates echolocation — a blind player can hear where walls, doors, enemies and objectives are, and play Counter-Strike 2 by ear.
The tool was developed over nearly two years with blind societies and AbleGamers, launched free in June 2024, and was made open-source so other games and developers could adopt it. Within a month millions of gamers were using it and it earned over 500 million impressions; at ADFEST 2025 it won the Innova Lotus for Innovation in Technology and a Radio & Audio Silver.
Why it lands
- It answers a commercial brief (prove JBL's audio is superior) with a genuinely inclusive product rather than a louder ad claim.
- Echolocation is a physical phenomenon every blind person already uses, so the technology extends a familiar skill into gaming.
- Co-developing with blind societies and AbleGamers for nearly two years kept the design grounded in real player needs.
- Releasing the software open-source turns a brand initiative into an industry standard any developer can embed.
- Free availability and optional headset use lower the barrier, so accessibility does not depend on owning JBL hardware.
What it did
Millions of gamers adopted the tool within the first month of launch and the initiative earned 500M+ earned impressions globally; visually impaired players loaded a AAA shooter for the first time. Guide Play won the ADFEST 2025 Innova Lotus for Innovation in Technology plus a Silver in Radio & Audio.
What you can take
When the brief is 'prove our tech is superior', the strongest proof is a community the tech can include — accessibility demonstrates audio quality better than any demo.
Since then
Guide Play launched globally on 11 June 2024 as a free, open-source download, initially proving itself on Counter-Strike 2 with over 1,000 players. The initiative repositioned JBL Quantum as a leader in gaming accessibility and generated over 500 million earned impressions. At ADFEST 2025 it collected the Innova Lotus for Innovation in Technology and a Radio & Audio Silver, and the open-source approach encouraged other developers to adopt the accessibility layer beyond JBL's own products.
Sources
- JBL QUANTUM GUIDE PLAY — ADFEST 2025 Winners Details
- JBL Quantum Introduces New Tool to Elevate Gaming Experiences for the Visually Impaired Community
- JBL Quantum elevates gaming for the visually impaired
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