Xbox unveils second annual Accessibility Showcase

One of the common themes amongst Microsoft and Xbox’s mission statements is to make gaming accessible to all. Now lots of companies may say this, and lots of game developers have come a long way in making this a reality. No one seems to do as much as Microsoft. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, “making gaming accessible to the over 400 million players with disabilities, including adapting our own games and platforms … and empowering game creators with accessibility tools and best practices to build communities where people feel safe, welcomed and represented.”

While making more enhancements to their already popular ambassadors’ program, this includes trying out platform and game accessibility features, learning about industry leaders and players with disabilities, as well as discovering accessibility best practices. New missions will be added throughout each season, allowing Explorers to level- up their knowledge. They are also further expanding their Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) to include a Players with Disability focused offering. This service will focus on providing game developers with direct feedback from players with disabilities around core scenarios, menu navigation, and settings in their games. This is ideal for those studios who want feedback from the Disability community on the accessibility of their games but are not quite ready for the MGATS’ full testing across 20+ Xbox Accessibility Guidelines.

It’s great to see Microsoft truly embrace the community in such a noble way and stick to its commitment in addition to that.

To catch up on all of the announcements you can head over here: Xbox Celebrates the Disability Communities with New Accessibility Updates – Xbox Wire