Anita Mortaloni leads Xbox's accessibility efforts.
Earlier this month, Microsoft-owned Xbox held what they called an accessibility showcase during which a slew of new accessibility-centric updates were shared. The event was an in-person soiree held at Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab in Redmond, Washington. Xbox accessibility boss Anita Mortaloni detailed the enhancements in a post on the organization’s blog, which was published October 13th.
“When we make our experiences, games, and platforms accessible [to people with disabilities], more people get to experience the power of connection that comes from play—be it bonding with their family, seeing themselves reflected in a game, or the joy that comes from helping others discover the fun of gaming,” Mortaloni wrote in the post. “As we work toward that future of accessibility, today we are happy to share updates that encourage everyone to create, play and connect through gaming. We look forward to partnering with the community and industry in the upcoming years to bring the power of play to more people.”
Mortaloni said in the announcement the team solicited feedback from the Xbox Accessibility Insiders League, or XAIL, about what members expected from a more inclusive and accessible gaming experience on Xbox. Three areas were identified: a year-round effort to add more in the way of assistive software, including customization of text, captions, and more; the importance of standardization and easier discoverability of mission critical accessibility options; and a continued commitment to actively including members of the disability community in the design and development processes of the OS and of games.
“We want our gaming community to represent the world at large, including the over one billion people in the world with disabilities. This can only happen when we intentionally include accessibility in our team, the products we make and the stories we tell,” Mortaloni told me regarding Xbox’s overall philosophy in a recent interview. “This allows us to not only represent the world at large—[we want to] identify and remove barriers to play that ultimately will enable everyone to be able to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want.”
There are many ways to discover accessible games on Xbox, Mortaloni said. One way is to check the accessibility tags, of which there are 20, on the Xbox store. These denote various accessibility settings related to audio/visual, input, and gameplay. Another avenue is perusing the Family Gaming Database, which Mortaloni explained is designed to “help parents and guardians navigate the world of video games and also has detailed accessibility pages for games.” Of note, the game Grounded was lauded at this year’s Xbox Accessibility Showcase for its so-called arachnophobia mode, wherein players can dial down the level of spiders present in gameplay. Moreover, As Dusk Falls was spotlighted at the event for its inclusion of diverse accessibility features. They included text-to-speech settings, on-screen user interface adjustments, a companion app, and more.
According to Mortaloni, feedback on the company’s efforts has been well-received. The developers and publishers who make use of Microsoft’s Game Testing Accessibility Service, an opt-in service that puts Xbox and PC titles in front of accessibility experts for “secure, confidential accessibility testing,” have reacted positively. In addition, Mortaloni said Xbox ambassadors have completed over 111,000 explore path missions since its launch earlier in October.
The work the Xbox team does to amplify accessibility is never done.
“Similar to Xbox, the game industry is also progressing on its accessibility journey, which is exciting to witness. We are finding more journalists are covering accessibility than they did before, and we continue to see more content creators with disabilities joining together to share their stories and push the industry to be more inclusive,” Mortaloni said. “We are also seeing accessibility becoming part of more events. Events like the Tokyo Game Show had Japanese Sign Language and Audio Description available from Xbox.”
She added: “We know our work is never done. We can and will continue to do more, as we know accessibility is a journey. And we know a huge part of that journey involves including the disability community, getting their feedback on the accessible products and services Xbox offers and designing with, and not just for the community. We truly view disability as a strength and value feedback on what we can do better and how we can remove barriers to play.”
