Every October, Xbox runs a number of accessibility-related initiatives in support of the ‘Gaming & Disability’ community.
For this year’s efforts, the company has unveiled a variety of new features and resources across consoles and the web.
First of all, there’s a new ‘Accessibility in Games’ on the Xbox Store on consoles and the web to display the accessibility features that developers have added to their games. Altogether, over 20 tags are available for developers, including “adjustable difficulty,” “single stick gameplay,” “text-to-speech” and “colour options.”
Elsewhere, users can now pair a new controller to a console using an Xbox media remote, digital assistant voice command, or previously paired controller. This removes the requirement to physically get up and press the pair button on the Xbox itself.
Additionally, you’ll soon be able to remap controller buttons to nearly 90 keyboard keys on the Xbox Adaptive Controller and Elite Series 2. This will allow players with limited mobility to use the Xbox Adaptive Controller with games that otherwise only support mouse and keyboard. This functionality is currently available for Xbox Insiders and will come to all users “in the coming months.”
Starting October 19th, players will also be able to access a dedicated ‘Game accessibility’ settings menu in the Xbox Game Bar on Windows PC. From here, you can select from a variety of audio and visual controls to customize your overall user experience.
Xbox also emphasized the accessibility features in games like the recently released Forza Motorsport, including audio cues and narration for blind drivers, one-touch inputs for those with mobility restrictions and highly customizable subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Outside of games and hardware, Xbox has also published the Playbook for Accessible Gaming Events, an events planning guide that outlines 12 best practices Microsoft has learned over the years to create inclusive environments for the disability community.
Source: Xbox
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