Xbox announces new program to help developers test accessibility of their games

Xbox announces new program to help developers test accessibility of their games
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

Posted in News

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Xbox has announced that it is launching a new program to allow developers to have their games validated against the platform's Xbox Accessibility Guidelines to give them the feedback they need to ensure their games can be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

The announcement came in an Xbox Wire post entitled 'The Future of Game Accessibility on Xbox' where the company's Senior Program Manager of Gaming Accessibility Brannon Zahand announced that developers can now have the option of sending Microsoft their Xbox or PC games and have it analysed and validated against the recommendations provided in the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines — a set of rules and best practices created in 2019 and rolled out last year to help developers understand issues and potential pitfalls that gamers with disabilities may find challenging when playing their games.

When a game is submitted into the program, any issues found will be flagged along with ways to reproduce the issue in reports that will also include additional information and documents by subject matter experts and non profits and more to help them understand issues and allow them to best adjust as they see fit. Most notably is that the testing will also include gamers with disabilities as part of the testing who will also be providing feedback during the process, to ensure an accurate representation of issues that they may face. 

Zahand added "We are continuing to take feedback from developers as well as the Gaming & Disability Community. It’s important for us to ensure we are constantly improving and raising the bar for inclusive gaming. This is just a single point in that journey."

Xbox has been championing accessibility for several years now, releasing the Xbox Adaptive Controller back in 2018 which also won a Golden Joystick that year for "Outstanding Contribution" to gaming.