World Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is a great time to bring visibility to the importance of digital access and inclusion, and to celebrate the more than 400 million gamers with disabilities who play and create around the world. Today, I’m excited to share some of the work Team Xbox has done in partnership with the disability community to bring the power of play and connection to more people. Because only when we all come together, intend to focus on accessibility throughout the year, and push for more representation in our games and the people who make them, can we truly make Xbox a place where everyone can have fun. and experience the joy of playing. For us this means,
- Foster inclusive communities, connections and support. Games have the power to bring people together and share experiences they might not otherwise have had. We want to make it easy to find and connect with a community, partner with game creators so you can influence the next game, and support accessibility features.
- Enable accessible design and development. Including accessibility and partnering with the disability community from the start of a project results in experiences that more people can enjoy. But sometimes it’s hard to know where to start or what resources to consider. We want to make gaming accessibility easier to include and understand by sharing what we learn, so we and others can do more.
- Continuous investment in accessibility. Accessibility features help gamers with disabilities to play, create, and connect their way. We are committed to continually innovating and partnering with the community to consistently deliver innovation and accessibility features in our products, games, and services.
Nothing should come between gamers and the games they love, which is why we’re dedicated to finding accessibility solutions that help remove barriers to play and make it easier to connect with others. In celebration of World Accessibility Awareness Day, Xbox is excited to share some ways gamers can connect with the community and creators, new resources for game creators, and more accessibility features available to gamers.
Please join us in celebrating GAAD and celebrating the creators and gamers with disabilities who are part of our community.
Foster inclusive communities, connections and support
Minecraft: Education Edition Accessibility
new this month, Building capacity is thrown in Minecraft: Education Edition, a new accessibility themed world created in collaboration with the Peel District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Students explore the barriers that people with disabilities experience by meeting a variety of characters that reflect our real world and learning how to identify and remove accessibility barriers in their school and community. The Minecraft learning experience promotes inclusive design thinking and problem solving rooted in empathy and social-emotional learning. See all the details about the new Minecraft: Education Edition world.
American Sign Language (ASL) Xbox Twitch Channel
We’ve launched an American Sign Language (ASL) Xbox channel on Twitch at /XboxASL! Every day, the Xbox Plays team streams live on the Xbox Twitch channel, playing the latest and greatest titles from the world of Xbox. In April, they, in collaboration with Sorensona communications company with the world’s largest interpreter base, launched a new ASL Xbox channel offering interpretation for approximately 25 hours of live broadcasts each week. Visit the new channel here Y Learn more about Xbox’s partnership with Sorenson here..
Xbox Accessibility Insider League (XAIL) Association + Windows Insider Program
The Xbox Accessibility Experts League (XAIL), which has grown to more than 163,000 members since its launch last May, is a streamlined way for anyone who self-identifies as a person with a disability or an ally to provide accessibility feedback directly to engineering teams. or Xbox game development. The Xbox team is now partnering with the Windows Insider Program to share new accessibility features in Windows 11 preview builds. We encourage XAIL members with Windows 11 to review this and provide feedback! Get started today by joining XAIL and keep an eye out for announcements via the Xbox Insider Hub on Xbox or PC.
Enable accessible design and development
Update to Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAG) 3.0 including new mental health guidelines
Based on community and developer feedback, the latest Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAG) The update released this month includes new mental health guidance, as well as guidance on reducing motion sickness, screen text readability, contrast, and input guidelines. New examples and implementation details have also been updated in this release.
New game accessibility resource center
In partnership with the Gaming and Disability community and the subject matter experts at Unity, Unreal & Coherent, the Game Accessibility Resource Center recently released that provides an extensive gaming accessibility guidance resource in one place. Covering training, talks, testing tools, and popular game engines, this resource was created to help game creators through all stages of their games’ accessibility journey. The content will be updated regularly in collaboration with the community.
Game Accessibility Basics Learning Path
Launched in November 2021, the Game Accessibility Fundamentals Learning Path is a free 5-module course that introduces a wide range of topics, including basic accessibility fundamentals, how to collaborate with the disability community, assistive hardware and software technologies, and best practices for developing gaming hardware. The course was designed for those who are new to learning about gaming accessibility, and when they finish, participants get a badge to celebrate their newfound knowledge. Earn your badge today and share it on social media to celebrate GAAD2022!
Continuous investment in accessibility for gamers
Making it easy to find accessible games
Last fall, Xbox announced the addition of accessibility feature tags for games on the Xbox Store, making it easier for gamers to find games that have one or more of the 20 accessibility tags that were defined in collaboration with the community of people. with disabilities and user research. Now with over 400 tagged titles and over 100 with 5 or more tags, we’re excited to share that players can now search then filter by one or more tags to find your next game! This feature was based on feedback from the community, and we hope to continue incorporating suggestions in the future.
Console and platform accessibility features
Console and platform accessibility features make gaming easier by creating customization for your gaming experience. In recent months, this has included features like Console Silent UI for additional audio muting, the ability to remap the share button to 22+ commands, and the ability to increase the size and add tooltips to remap on the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which is especially useful if a user has remapped shift buttons on the controller.
force horizon 5 – Addition of ASL/BSL and other accessibility features
In partnership with the disabled community, Playground Games added American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) support in force horizon 5The cinematics of the game. The team leveraged the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines and feedback from the disability community to build additional accessibility features into force horizon 5 including game speed mods, high contrast mode, color blindness mode, screen reader narrator, the ability to turn off moving backgrounds, and more. For more information, see accessibility features at force horizon 5.
To play. Connect. Impact.
Xbox is proud to celebrate World Accessibility Awareness Day and will continue to support the power of play and make gaming accessible and welcoming to all. Today we share an example of how we are supporting the community and how you can too.
To play force horizon 5 to earn and donate Microsoft Rewards points
During the month of May, earn Microsoft Rewards points by unlocking any achievement in Forza Horizon 5. Use the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox to claim rewards with the option to donate them to special effectan organization that supports people with physical disabilities through the innovative use of technology, and plaYscope of the ersthat empowers hospitalized children through video games.