Microsoft is continuing to add more accessibility features for players of its Xbox consoles and also on Windows PCs. The company previously launched a special Xbox Adaptive Controller, and earlier this year, it announced plans to offer controller-to-keyboard input mapping for both the Adaptive Controller and the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2.
Today, the Xbox Wire site has announced that the Game Bar and the Xbox App on PC will be getting some more accessibility features later this week with an app update:
Following the launch of the Xbox app’s ‘Accessibility’ settings menu last spring, the Xbox widgets in Game Bar will include their own ‘Game accessibility’ settings menu on October 19 to make it even easier for players to locate accessibility settings on the platform. In the updated Xbox widgets, you’ll find both visual and audio-related accessibility controls to customize your PC gaming experience according to your preferences and needs.
Microsoft has also added a new Accessibility in Games channel in the Xbox Store that includes all games with accessibility feature tags to make it easier to find those titles.
For organizers of live gaming events, Microsoft has also just published a Playbook for Accessible Gaming Events. The guide will offer suggestions for those organizers to help make these kinds of events better for attendees that have disabilities, based on lessons Microsoft itself has learned from events like E3, Gamescom, and others.
Microsoft is also putting in more accessibility features in its first-party Xbox and PC games. They include the new Blind Assist Feature in Forza Motorsport that offers audio cues for drivers who have visual disabilities. Developer Rare also recently added similar audio cues for Sea of Thieves so blind and low-vision players can hit their cannon targets.
Also, the Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition release added a number of accessibility features, including support for UI Narration, Strong Contrast Mode, and Text-to-speech/Speech-to-text communications.
