MIL-OSI Economics: Xbox celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Xbox celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Global Accessibility Awareness Day, celebrated annually on the third Thursday of May, is dedicated to recognizing and raising awareness about the importance of accessibility. With billions of people playing video games in the world, including nearly 450 million players with some form of disability, our mission at Xbox is to create welcoming and accessible experiences so as many people as possible can enjoy the community and fun of gaming.  

We recognize that every player can have different accessibility needs or preferences to support their play. This is why it’s critical we partner with members of the disability community to help inform the hardware, platform experiences, and games we create. While this ongoing collaboration is embedded into the fabric of our design processes, we’re thrilled to share some exciting accessibility news in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day today. These include: 

• Revealing new and exciting accessibility features in DOOM: The Dark Ages, Candy Crush Soda Saga, and World of Warcraft. 

• Spotlighting how players can customize their gameplay as they make their way through the American Deep South in South of Midnight or slay their way through the depths of Hell in Diablo IV. 

• Sharing how we continue to bring accessibility to the forefront through industry initiatives, the hardware we make, and employee engagement. 

Welcoming More Players By Increasing Accessibility in Games 

DOOM: The Dark Ages  

DOOM: The Dark Ages, the prequel to DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal, puts players into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell. The game was designed to be a DOOM for all Slayers – approachable, yet challenging – so that as many people as possible can play.  

Today, we’re excited to reveal that many new accessibility features are being launched for the first time in the DOOM franchise. Among Doom: The Dark Ages’ key accessibility features: 

• Game Difficulty Customization: Game difficulty modifiers, such as game speed, can be changed at any time during gameplay. 

• Sound Effect Visualization: The Threat Detector setting can be enabled to show the directionality of incoming threats from enemies as icons around the screen. 

• High Contrast Mode: Enable the World Desaturation setting to help enemies and objects stand out from the desaturated background. The color and strength of the visual highlight effect can be customized for multiple enemy and object categories. 

• Text Size: There are multiple settings to adjust the size of the subtitles, UI text, and HUD elements. Magnification Mode can be used to further increase the size of some text, such as tutorials. 

• Reduce Motion-Related Discomfort: Adjust a variety of camera and visual effect settings. These include field of view (FOV), environmental screen shake, chromatic aberration, head bob, and weapon bob. 

• Input Adjustments: Remap the controls for various gameplay and menu categories. Other adjustments are available to customize the feel of the controls and reduce the number of hold actions. 

Check out the accessibility guide for more information. DOOM: The Dark Ages is available now for Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5 – and you can play it with Game Pass. 

Candy Crush Soda Saga  

Candy Crush Soda Saga, the mouth-watering puzzle adventure from the makers of the legendary Candy Crush Saga, brought its accessibility menu, which has historically only been available on iOS, to Android on May 8. Accessibility features in this menu include the ability to choose the game board colors, contrast options of the candies (depending on people’s visual preferences) as well as ways to personalize the players’ audio experience with:

• Bass control
• Reduction of high frequencies
• Ability to adapt sound effects
• Mono and stereo music controls

The unified accessibility menu allows players to find all audio, visual and haptic options in one singular view, and is available to all players from level one within the Settings main menu.

Candy Crush Soda Saga is available on the Amazon App Store, Apple App Store, Google Play store and from the Microsoft Store.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft will soon be releasing new UI options in patch 11.1.7 designed to improve the accessibility and approachability of combat. These UI options will allow players to better understand and execute combat rotations for damage spells. This improves combat accessibility for players in these two ways:

• Single-Button Assistant – Serves as a one button rotation helper. Using this single button keybind will cast the next recommended damage ability in the rotation sequence. This assistant is designed to have a small additional global cooldown added between abilities so that it is still useful for learning new skills, aiding those who are looking for additional help, or for those who want to experience the story or game on a more casual basis.
• Combat Assistant – Once enabled, this adds an extra highlight via the action bars to show what damage ability is recommended next based on resources and the situation your character is in. This feature is designed to help new players, players who are trying out a new specialization, or those looking for additional guidance on the abilities they should use.

Patch 11.1.7 will be released at a later date. More information about how the World of Warcraft team is evolving their UI can be found in this episode of WoWCast with game director Ion Hazzikostas.

World of Warcraft: The War Within is available now on PC via Battle.net.

South of Midnight

From Compulsion Games, the creators of Contrast and We Happy Few, South of Midnight is a spellbinding third person action-adventure game set in a magic realist version of the American Deep South. As Hazel, players explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world.

In addition to a crafted visual style, touching storytelling, and immersive music inspired by the complex and rich history of the South, the game offers various accessibility features that allow players to customize their experience, including:

• Ability to adjust difficulty at any time (5 options: Scryer, Healer, Weaver, Grand Weaver, and Custom)
• Controls (Control remapping, sensitivity, alternative input, etc.)
• Language (23 languages supported, subtitles, captions, etc.)
• Audio (Dynamic range, volume mixer, song vocals, etc.)
• Graphics (Temporal upscaling, motion blur, V-Sync, shadow quality, etc.)
• Gameplay (Stop motion on/off, camera follow, skip gameplay sequences, etc.)
• Interface (Text size, persistent dot, HUD scale, HUD display, etc.)

Additionally, South of Midnight has a dedicated accessibility menu with options such as:

• Color Profile (8 colorblind profiles presets & customization)
• Menu Narration
• Navigation Assistance (visual and audio settings)
• Motion Sickness (including stop motion on/off for gameplay)
• Gameplay (echo object timer, additional audio cues, additional vibration, etc.)
• And more!

More information about accessibility in South of Midnight can be found in the accessibility support guide. South of Midnight is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam and cloud, and Game Pass.

Diablo IV

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The gates of Hell are open to all. Diablo IV designers and engineers have worked alongside accessibility experts to perfect its advanced screen reader technology and develop new tools for navigation assistance. This includes the addition of the compass and audio enhancements to ensure as many players as possible can slay the forces of Hell and defend Sanctuary. The video above provides an in-depth look at how these features were concepted, built, tested, and refined, and also showcases how accessibility fits into the overall development workflow for Diablo IV.

Diablo IV, featuring cross-play and cross-progression, is available on PC via Battle.net and Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4, plus up to four player co-op, including two-player couch co-op on consoles.

Bringing Accessibility to the Forefront via the Games Industry, Hardware and Events

Xbox Helps Launch the Accessible Games Initiative

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In March, Xbox joined partners across the gaming industry to unveil the Accessible Games Initiative. Helmed by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), this initiative strives to provide players with clear information about the accessibility features in games through a set of “tags” shared across the industry that are surfaced on storefronts and game product description pages. These tags have specific criteria to help ensure that users who rely on them have consistently delightful experiences.

We have also begun transitioning our current Xbox Accessibility Feature tags to the Accessible Games Initiative tags. As part of this process, players may notice some discrepancies in the tag names that appear in various Xbox experiences during this time and these potential discrepancies will be resolved once transition engineering work is completed by July 2025. Any Xbox Game Accessibility Feature tags that do not have equivalent Accessible Games Initiative tags will remain on our platform. This combination of tags will make it even easier for players with disabilities to find their next great game and understand the accessibility features available to play. 

Xbox Adaptive Joystick Now Available for Purchase

As part of the Microsoft Ability Summit in March, we announced that the Xbox Adaptive Joystick is now available for purchase exclusively through the Microsoft Store. Built in collaboration with the Gaming and Disability community, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick is a singular, wired controller primarily designed to meet the needs of players with limited mobility. Its versatility helps players seamlessly incorporate it into their existing gaming setups.

To learn more about the Xbox Adaptive Joystick’s features and customization options, visit Xbox Support.

King Player Accessibility Days (PAD)

King is proud to announce the return of Player Accessibility Days (PAD) in 2025, which will be bigger, bolder, and more inclusive than ever.

This initiative, which kicked off last year, started as a way to raise awareness across King of the challenges that players with accessibility needs face when playing our games. With educational talks from industry leaders and first-hand stories from the players themselves, PAD aims to ensure that inclusive game design is at the heart of everything we do.

This year, we’re collaborating with Xbox Research to empower teams across King to create more inclusive games, products, and player experiences. From enhanced audio features that cater to players with auditory disabilities to visual adjustments that improve gameplay for those with visual challenges, we’re putting accessibility into motion across several aspects of our games. By integrating these features and fostering a culture of inclusivity, we’re ensuring that every player, regardless of ability, can enjoy the magic of mobile gaming.

Building on last year’s momentum, PAD 2025 marks a significant step forward in our commitment to accessibility, with the goal of transforming it from a checklist into a company-wide mindset.

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Join teams across Xbox as we continue to champion accessibility on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and beyond.