In 2018, Microsoft published the Xbox Adaptive Controller. It can be connected to a variety of external peripherals to meet the individual needs of players with disabilities or chronic diseases. Recent xbox manufacturer games, such as Gears 5, appear with a variety of accessibility options, older titles, such as Forza Horizon 4, receive subsequent accessibility updates. Even the screening experience of the consoles is customizable.
It seems that the last fiber of the Xbox experience will be as low threshold as possible. According to Anita Mortaloni, Director of Accessibility at Xbox, is exactly the goal: We are working on the entire gaming ecosystem accessible to the entire gaming ecosystem close. It does not rich, developers for Xbox merely ask for more accessible games. Mortaloni emphasizes: We provide the resources that help you start your work.
These include the approximately the extensive Xbox Accessibility Guidelines. For designers are the catalyst for new ideas, explains the accessibility boss. And for developers, they serve as a checklist, with which they can check if their games are actually accessible.
On these guidelines, the so-called Gaming and Disability Player Experience Guide is based. He informs about barriers in games, situation-dependent disabilities or illuminated how people play with disabilities. ACCESSIBILITY demystifies all the matching, and makes it easier to work on the accessibility from the first day, says Mortaloni.
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Accessible games: Accessibility is much more than subtitles and difficulty levels
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XBox works closely with people with disabilities
For Xbox, the close cooperation with people with disabilities or chronic diseases is therefore indispensable. Because accessibility must already be considered in the planning of product design and dragging through the development process.
For us, that means actively looking for perspectives of players with disabilities, to create specifically titles, ecosystems and communities where players are welcome, safe and represented with disabilities.
This creates, among other things, the Xbox Accessibility Insider League (Xail). Thanks to her, players with disabilities or chronic diseases as well as supporters of the community feedback for accessibility of games forward directly to developers.
The new navigation penging in Gears 5 is a result of this cooperation. Our team had received the idea of hearing impaired players, says Mortaloni. Then the developers spent a lot of time to adapt the game to an audio-centered experience so that the feature has the desired effect.
In the Xbox Store, air is up
Such adjustments alone are not enough for accessible gaming experience. Accessibility options must be advertised transparent, so players with chronic diseases or disabilities ever know which titles meet their needs. Not least because Demos are now the exception instead of the rule and make new titles with price tags of up to 80 euros miscons in pain.
This also knows Mortaloni:
There is no accessible games for us when our community can not find them. It can be very frustrating to buy a game and then do not play or end it.
Despite the better knowledge, buying in the Xbox store for players can frustrate with disabilities or chronic diseases. For example, if you want to download a digital copy of the accessible Gears 5 on the Xbox, there can only be a fraction of the numerous accessibility features.
Many details, mostly for other things
These include controllers remapping, the support of the Xbox Adaptive Controller or improved subtitle. Concrete examples, such as navigation ping, are still missing. Other accessible titles of external studios, such as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla, do not mention your accessibility options at all. It is annoying that instead, each title uses accurate information about technical capabilities, such as 4K resolution or HDR10 support precisely.
According to Mortaloni, Xbox is aware of this problem. We are currently working on various solutions to help our community. Which solutions that are, however, it can not be revealed yet.
Better, the social media appearance of XBox looks like. Here, the needs of players are consistently taken into account with visual and hearing restrictions. Game trailer with Voice Over are subtitled; Only descriptions for music as you know about Netflix is missing.
In addition, Xbox images with old text, be it the advertising images at the international or German main capital on Twitter or the memes, which posts the social media team of Xbox Game Pass regularly. Mortaloni explains: We look at games not only as a final product, it also works around the users * internal experience. We want to make sure that all can see the trailers directly on the first day. Finally, there is no fun to come to the party for three weeks
ACCESSIBILITY also means security
Of course, the social side of the gaming is not just the marketing. Not later than the pandemic has proved: Multiplayer titles offer an ideal opportunity to come together with friend. At best, you can fill a whole team with familiar faces. Anyone who does not have this luxury, or generally plays online alone is exposed to the risk of hostile comments from foreign players.
In the US alone, more than 80 percent of all players have experienced at least once threats in online games. 25 percent of these were players with disabilities. In addition, other forms of aggression, such as discriminatory Gamer tag things, which also does not protect playing with a team from friend. Xbox has no tolerance for such behavior. The community standards already convey: Hass has no room here.
Get players in stores that violate these standards, you can contact the Xbox security team. The same applies to the discovery of other discriminatory content. The team then looks at the message and takes appropriate measures, says Mortaloni. The rich locks for the chatting and online games, until the deletion of an account.
In exceptional cases, more drastic steps can be initiated. Mortaloni assures: If it must be, we do not hurt back against law enforcement. But if that was necessary, she can not say.
Uncompromisingness describes this approach best. Otherwise, the self-explanatory goal of the company could not be achieved: We want to make the life of all players worldwide worldwide with our games more pleasant, under all circumstances, says Mortaloni. And if we all say, we all mean.
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