Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller is designed to make gaming more accessible to disabled people.
In celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day this year, Xbox on Thursday announced a slew of accessibility-oriented updates. In a press release, the company touted new happenings centered around features, partnerships, progress, a revamped web experience, and much more.
“Global Accessibility Awareness Day is an exciting moment for Xbox to celebrate the 427 million players with disabilities across the globe and highlight recent accessibility work at Xbox,” Xbox wrote in the lede to the announcement. ”And with 66% percent of gamers sharing they face some kind of barrier when it comes to gaming, Xbox knows all too well the importance of making games accessible and fun for everyone.”
For accessibility, Xbox has announced there are now expanded accessibility support webpages that it says allows people to “learn about more than 150+ accessibility features, settings, and controls available across PC and console.” In addition, there are new accessibility settings in the Xbox app for Windows; they include options to disable background images and animations. According to Xbox, the setting is intended to accommodate players who require “[reduced] visual components that could cause disruption, confusion, or irritation.”
Partnership-wise, Xbox is collaborating with the Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art on an exhibit called Game Society. The exhibition, which runs from May to September, is designed to “[showcase] contemporary visual art works embodying games’ imagination and realism. One exhibition will highlight game accessibility and will include the installation of the Xbox Adaptive Controller for visitors to use.” Elsewhere, Xbox Netherlands is joining up with disabled gamer Paul Van Der Made and the HiPerks Foundation on a video series that will delve into the high impact Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller has on engendering inclusion in gaming. The series can be seen on Xbox Netherland’s various social media outlets such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Finally, Xbox and Special Olympics is continuing their work together with a presence at this year’s Special Olympics World Games, being held in Berlin, Germany. Starting next month, “Xbox and Humanelektronik will be providing Xbox gaming stations in the athlete’s lounge in Berlin, where athletes and Unified partners can try out different accessibility features and connect with other participants from around the world through the universal language of play.”
As for charting progress, Xbox says there has been a million missions completed as part of its Xbox Accessibility Ambassador Explorer Path. The program is described as a "gamified way that allows Xbox Ambassadors to learn more about accessibility in gaming as well as try out new gaming accessibility features.” Furthermore, there’s been new guidance added to the Microsoft Game Accessibility Testing Service. The information details how developers can add accessibility feature tags to their games. The Testing Service, which launched in 2021, has seen gamers with disabilities log over 13,000 hours of testing since inception. Xbox is hosting a livestream event on its Twitch channel during which accessibility features in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will be shown off.
Lastly, the Xbox web experience is being made more accessible. Xbox says the Microsoft Store on console, PC, and the web has been upgraded so as to help disabled gamers filter—of which there are over twenty—searches based on their needs and tolerances. Moreover, interested players can find games in over seventeen supported languages.
More details on Xbox’s GAAD news can be found on their website.
