Xbox is adding accessibility tags to its digital store, to help gamers with disabilities know if a game is right for them.
In a new blog post on Xbox WireXbox Accessibility Director Anita Mortaloni explained that over the next few months games on the Xbox Store will have a new “Accessibility” tab in their Details section.
This tab lists the accessibility features offered by each game, based on certain criteria defined by Microsoft.
Xbox Adaptive Controller Trailer
Each list will consist of a selection of 20 tags, each representing specific accessibility features. According to Mortaloni, these features are the ones that gamers typically look for based on extensive user research, and include:
- commented game menus
- subtitle options
- input remapping
- full keyboard support
- single stick gameplay
- no button holds
To avoid confusion over what qualifies for each feature, developers aiming to make their games accessible will need to meet a specific set of criteria for each tag to be applied.
For example, in order for a game to earn the “subtitle options” tag, its subtitles must be of a certain size and must also have an option to increase their size by up to 200%.
Mortaloni says Xbox aims to add more tags to ensure more accessibility needs are covered, but also points out that the team is careful not to add too many, to avoid confusion.
Xbox Accessibility Insiders League members currently have access to the game’s new accessibility feature tags and will provide feedback about them to fine-tune the experience before it rolls out to all Xbox users.
