In a blog post published this week, Xbox’s director of accessibility Anita Mortaloni share details on how the Microsoft-owned group is pushing forward in making video games more inclusive of disabled people.
Regular readers of the column may find Mortaloni’s name familiar. It should ring a bell, as I interviewed her almost exactly a year ago.
“Gaming allows us to experience worlds beyond imagination, share our stories and forge friendships with people across the world,” Mortaloni wrote in the post’s introduction. “At Xbox we believe that gaming is for everyone, including the over 429 million players with disabilities, and it is our responsibility to create a place where everyone feels welcome, safe, and included to experience the joy and community of gaming.”
Besides touting Xbox’s Gaming for Inclusion partnership with Special Olympics that I reported on this week, Mortaloni spoke of the organization’s excitement for its ongoing support “of the Gaming & Disability community by sharing a variety of updates.” She cites new accessibility features, the “next chapter” for the Xbox Ambassador Accessibility Explorer Path, the team’s favorite games, and more.
It’s worth noting Mortaloni’s shoutout of Forza Motorsport having gained new accessibility features is the first I’ve heard of the racing franchise since I reported on Forza Horizon 5 adding extensive sign language support for Deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers in March 2022.
Mortaloni highlighted another Xbox collaboration by way of the Adaptive Gaming Program at Colorado-based neurorehabilitation and research center Craig Hospital. Mortaloni explains the partnership has its origins in 2018, when Microsoft first launched the Xbox Adaptive Controller. The hospital and its Adaptive Gaming Program, which is described in the post as “[bringing] the joy and connection of gaming to patients and family members alike who love to play.” Mortaloni called the hospital “an invaluable partner in helping shape Team Xbox’s accessible hardware journey.” The hospital has a video on YouTube about the Adaptive Gaming Program for people to learn more about it.
Mortaloni notes the advent of the Playbook for Accessible Gaming Events, written to “[share] best practices learned over years of working with the Gaming & Disability Community at events such as GDC, gamescom, E3, Xbox Fanfest, and more.” The Playbook is accompanied by the recently-published Disability Etiquette Training Video.
“Much like our Xbox Accessibility Guidelines, these best practices are designed for event production teams, and are meant to serve as a catalyst for generating ideas and provide a set of guidelines when planning,” Mortaloni said. “They can also be used when evaluating the accessibility of an event at its completion to build for the future.”
Finally, Mortaloni went in-depth on numerous new accessibility features for Xbox. They include the ability to pair a new controller using an existing one, keyboard remapping, a new Game Accessibility Settings menu in the Xbox widgets in Game Bar, and more. Relatedly, there’s also a brand-new Accessibility in Games channel on the Xbox store.
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