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Xbox announces a range of new accessibility features

by Chris Hyde on May 20, 2022

Xbox has announced a range of new accessibility features to coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Yesterday – May 19, 2022 – was GAAD and the technology firm announced more ways they intend to remove barriers for the 400 million players with disabilities across the globe. This forms part of Xbox’s ongoing mission to amplify and celebrate players with disabilities and highlight the importance of digital access and inclusion.

The new accessibility features announced by Xbox include:

Firmware updates to the Xbox Adaptive Controller that include the ability to increase the size and add tooltips for button images on the Xbox Adaptive Controller’s remapping screen.
The ability to search and then filter Game Accessibility Feature Tags in the Xbox Store. The Accessibility Feature Tags, announced last year, are designed to make it easier for gamers with disabilities to determine if a game is right for them. There are 20 tags in total, based on extensive user research and discussions with the Gaming & Disability Community. With this new update, players can search and then filter tags for over 400 titles.
The recent launch of the ASL Xbox Twitch channel. Every day, the Xbox Plays team goes live on the Xbox Twitch channel, playing the latest and greatest titles from the world of Xbox. In April, they launched an All-ASL Twitch channel featuring interpretation for approximately 25 hours of live streams each week.
The recent launch of “BuildAbility” in Minecraft: Education Edition. In May, M:EE launched an accessibility World in partnership with the PEEL school, where students can understand, identify, and work to eliminate accessibility barriers in their school and community… all within the Minecraft universe.
Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs) 3.0 update with information on mental health. Based on community and developer feedback, the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAGs) 3.0 update published in May includes a new mental health guideline, as well as info on motion sickness and expanded details on text sizing.