As we already know, Xbox has proven to be a top company when it comes to inclusion, diversity, and taking the extra mile for those who aren’t commonly seen or heard. For a while now, we have read more than one story of the actions taken to support the LGBT community, on Hispanic Heritage Month, and with gamers with Disabilities. Today, Anita Mortaloni, Director of Accessibility at Xbox has shared a few words and updates on the matter.
Mortaloni states that Xbox is aiming to empower everyone to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. And that includes the over 400M players with disabilities in the world.
Today with the 2022 Xbox Accessibility Showcase, the big X celebrates the Disability community and the many people and organizations working to remove barriers to play, ultimately making gaming more accessible around the globe.
This year, Xbox chose to host the Accessibility Showcase in the Microsoft Inclusive Tech Lab, located on Microsoft’s Redmond, WA campus and intentionally built with accessibility in mind from the ground up.
“The lab strives to encourage developers and designers to deliberately include people with disabilities in the products and services they create by showcasing how inclusive technologies allow everyone to participate,” Mortaloni says. “The same is valid for gaming. When we make our experiences, games, and platforms accessible, more people 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.”
Members of the Xbox Accessibility Insiders League (XAIL) and the Xbox Ambassador community were asked what they wanted in the future of accessibility, they emphasized:
- The importance for more and wide variety of accessibility options year-round, in addition to customization of accessibility options including text, subtitles, captions, difficulty settings.
- It is critical to include players with disabilities in the design, as collaborators, and as an audience.
- The importance of standardized sets increased discoverability of features, and communication of accessible gaming.
WORKING TOWARD GAMING INCLUSION
Today Xbox has shared updates that encourage everyone to create, play and connect through gaming. it introduced the following resources that make it easier to create games with accessibility and connect with the community:
Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) Players with Disability Focus Offering
Since launching the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) in February 2021, hundreds of Xbox and PC titles have had the accessibility of their titles validated against the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs), with feedback from players with disabilities shared and details on Xbox’s Game Accessibility Feature Tags applied. This month, a new offering called MGATS- Players with Disability Focus (PwD) launches for studios not quite ready for testing across 20+ XAGs. This service focuses on providing game developers with feedback from players with disabilities around core scenarios, menu navigation, and game settings.
Xbox Accessibility Guidelines – Touch Control Guidance
The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs) are a set of best practices developed in partnership with industry experts and members of the Gaming & Disability Community. Based on community feedback, this month we launched best practices around touch-based interfaces when it comes to gaming on mobile devices. These new guidelines include touch target sizing and placement recommendations, swipe sensitivity, and the importance of supporting mobile-native input accessibility features.
Xbox Ambassador Accessibility Explorer Path
The Xbox Ambassador program is a group of players that celebrate the uniqueness of everyone, promote a safe gaming environment, and above all else, make gaming fun for everyone. And a large part of that is knowing what options are available for gaming. To support this, we announce the new, accessible Xbox Ambassador Accessibility Explorer Path, an engaging, new learning path meant to teach Xbox Ambassadors all about accessibility. This includes trying out platform and game accessibility features, learning about industry leaders and players with disabilities, and discovering accessibility best practices. New missions will be added throughout each season, allowing Explorers to level- up their knowledge.
Xbox has a redesigned support hub for players to learn about all the accessibility features on console and Windows devices, so players spend less time figuring out how to use a feature and more time playing. With more straightforward navigation, the accessibility articles are now organized by feature category, so players can find the support they need, discover new features and compare features between PC and console. New and updated articles in October include Narrator shortcuts (keyboard and controller), Xbox notifications, and copilot on PC.
If you’re looking to take a deep dive into Xbox’s actions, here is an official statement from the team working in this specific matter:
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