With over three billion people playing games, gaming has the power to bring together people from different regions, cultures and demographics around the world. Gaming for All is our commitment to making Xbox a place where everyone can have fun, including the more than 400 million gamers with disabilities. This means that we consciously focus on accessibility and include people with disabilities in our design process.
Games are the medium of choice for the younger generation, 70% of people under the age of 25 would rather play a game than consume any other form of media, including social media. For this reason, it is imperative that the creators and communities developing games are representative of the full range of experiences, disabilities, cultures and people on this earth. It’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to share the launch of BuildAbility in Minecraft: Education Edition, a new accessibility theme developed in partnership with the Peel District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Students explore barriers people with disabilities face by meeting a range of characters that reflect our real world and learn to identify and remove barriers to accessibility in their school and community. Check out the full details of the new world of Minecraft: Education Edition.
This week at the Microsoft Ability Summit, I had the opportunity to speak about why accessibility in gaming is so important and how we can help build a more inclusive world by empowering everyone who wants to be a creator. You can watch this lecture as well as other amazing content at
aka.ms/abilitysummit
Cooperation with the disabled community
Working with the disability community is critical to understanding lived experiences and how disabilities can impact gaming experiences. We encourage you to work collaboratively with the community, either on your own or by using the following accessibility resources made possible through partnership with the disability community:
- That
Xbox Accessibility Insiders League (XAIL) is a community of over 158,000 self-identified disabled players and/or community allies who want to provide feedback on the latest accessibility features. Open to content creators, XAIL provides an easy way to share your content with the community through the Xbox Insider Program. Contact your account team for more details. - That
Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) is an optional program that allows Xbox and PC game developers and publishers to submit their products for secure, confidential accessibility testing conducted by accessibility experts and gamers with disabilities. The test is carried out againstXbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs) with the final report including accessibility highlights, feedback from players with disabilities, concerns and customization to accessibility feature tags.
Reach more players with your game
We all create games to play and want as many people as possible to experience the worlds you build. This can only happen if players can discover your game and are confident that they can play it. One of the most common questions the Gaming Accessibility team receives is “What game can I play?”. It can be incredibly frustrating getting a game only to find out you can’t play it for minutes because it’s missing a crucial feature, or getting through 99% only to find out a new mechanism has been introduced. It’s like finding out that batteries aren’t included in your kid’s birthday present; they were looking forward to playing and now they can’t.
Players want to know the accessibility details in their game before launching it, and we encourage you to use the following tactics to reach more players.
- That
Accessibility Feature Tagswere specifically designed with this in mind, to make it easier for gamers to find games that have one or more of the 20 accessibility features such as custom volume controls, no quick time events, or subtitle options. Each has been defined with specific criteria verified through user research and in collaboration with the disability community to help developers understand and meet the requirements. Developers can identify accessibility features in their games by tagging the features using the accessibility feature in the gaming metadata module, making it easier for gamers to discover their game. And a new feature, based on community feedback that we’ll continue to incorporate, now allows players to search and then filter by tags, making it easier than ever for them to find a game they love. - Accessibility support pages provide a single, searchable place that outlines all of the accessibility features in your game. Providing this information at launch and updating it with each release allows gamers with disabilities to play your game the way they want to.
- Also, when sharing your game, make sure that the content and how it is shared is accessible. Take advantage of platforms like the recently announced All-American Sign Language (ASL) Xbox Twitch Channel at /XboxASL, where the Xbox Plays team goes live every day on the Xbox Twitch Channel, playing the latest and greatest titles from around the world of Xbox.
https://www.twitch.tv/xboxasl/.
Expand your understanding of gaming accessibility
Building accessibility from the start allows more people to enjoy your game, but sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start or where to go for more information. In response to feedback and in partnership with the community, we want to make it easy to create accessible gaming experiences by providing game-specific resources that are easy to find and apply directly to your project. Here are some to check out:
- The new
Accessibility resource hub for gaming developers provides developers with a central place to begin their accessibility journey, with a wealth of resources including testing tools, developer resources, conference talks, and guidelines. - That
Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs) was launched in 2019 as a free resource for game developers that serves as a set of best practices for validating game accessibility, and Xbox continues to iterate on it based on community feedback. This month they announce the addition of best practices on mental health, motion sickness and clarity on text size. - ThatLearning path on the basics of game accessibilityis a free online course for those who are new to gaming accessibility or want to solidify their understanding. The resource aims to provide basic knowledge about gaming accessibility, how to work with the disability community and best practices for hardware, software and gaming accessibility and assistive technologies. After completing the course, share your newfound knowledge and badge with the community!