October marks the one-year anniversary of Microsoft and Sony releasing the current generation of consoles. The Xbox Series X/S and PS5 bring with them powerful new hardware, as well as libraries of titles that benefit from faster loading speeds and special features like Quick Resume or the haptics of the DualSense. With new systems comes the potential to innovate in making gaming not just faster or more tactile, but just as importantly more accessible, too.
Xbox has notably endeavored to make accessibility advancements part of its mission since before the launch of the Xbox Series X and S. From the launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, to several new accessibility updates and features for its systems recently unveiled during Disability Awareness Month in October, Xbox is building an accessible gaming package that many disabled players will gravitate toward. Speaking with IGN, Xbox accessibility leads discussed the company’s journey so far in building a more accessible platform, the work still left to be done to make all of gaming more accessible, and the hopes for better cooperation across the industry to achieve that future.
The Evolution of Xbox's Accessibility
Accessibility at first-party studios is not new, as systems have included console-wide accessibility as early as 2015. Yet, progress is relatively incremental aside from Xbox's latest updates and announcements. Both PlayStation and Xbox allow players to fully customize controls, regardless of a specific game’s inputs, though these customization options existed during the previous generation and have largely been untouched since their initial release. The Nintendo Switch takes this feature a step further with five custom controller profiles for each official Nintendo controller. Other notable accessibility options included at a hardware level or present in most games are zoom features, text to speech and the capability to reduce screen movements and motions. But Xbox is creating new features to help distinguish their accessibility from competitors, and, hopefully, push the entire industry to find new ways to innovate..
Speaking with IGN, Director of Accessibility at Xbox Anita Mortaloni notes the progressive evolution of accessibility, especially with consoles.
that accessibility is a journey, and we are just getting started, and there is still a lot to do, and a lot that we can continue to do even on the Xbox Adaptive Controller,” Mortaloni said.
One of the new innovations she discussed is the Game Accessibility Feature Tags system. According to an official post by Xbox, the store page will now display what accessibility features are present in a game. Tags like “Narrated Game Menus, Subtitle options, Input Remapping, Full keyboard support, and Single Stick Gameplay” will provide disabled players with a brief synopsis of what to expect to help inform their purchase decisions. Currently, only 20 tags are present, but Xbox intends to build Feature Tags into a more comprehensive system as it gains feedback from disabled players and developers.
“The number one question that we have continued to get is ‘What game can I play,’” Mortaloni said. “We wanted to make it really easy for gamers to find the next game they will love and be able to play. On top of the fact that it’s frustrating to have to do all of that research to begin with, you don’t want to purchase or download a game, and minutes in, or seconds, find out you can’t play it.”
The capability to check features is beneficial beyond those opening minutes of a game, too. Often, disabled players will struggle to complete a section or boss encounter far beyond the rare refund request period some platforms offer. Mortaloni notes it’s frustrating for disabled individuals to play “…99 percent through, [only to] find out you can’t finish that final boss fight because a feature is not there.”
Feature Tags are a great way to inform disabled consumers about potential barriers and their accessible solutions, but they still don’t give disabled players an ability to play more games. Currently, the Xbox Adaptive Controller is the only first-party developed piece of tech available intentionally created to assist disabled individuals. Yet, the device, famously equipped with the tagline “When everyone plays, we all win,” primarily benefits those with motor disabilities, a fraction of the total number of disabilities that exist. For disabled individuals with limited reach or limited motor function, the Adaptive Controller is a superb piece of tech. But for people who are sightless or have limited sight, or deaf and hard of hearing gamers, there’s room for more options to be created, rather than the Adaptive Controller existing as the only focus of accessibility enhancing hardware. And that’s a problem Xbox seems keenly aware of.
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