Xbox Joins Industry-Wide Gaming Accessibility Initiative as Founding Member
Microsoft’s Team Xbox has announced its role as a founding member of the Accessible Games Initiative, a new cross-industry effort aimed at improving accessibility in video games. The initiative, led by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), includes major gaming companies such as Electronic Arts, Google, Nintendo of America, and Ubisoft.
The initiative will introduce 24 standardized accessibility tags to help players easily identify games that cater to various needs. These tags will cover features such as clear text, large subtitles, narrated menus, stick inversion, and save-anytime options, providing players with essential accessibility details before purchasing a game.
In a statement, Team Xbox reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive gaming, emphasizing the importance of accessibility for the over 429 million players with disabilities worldwide. The company highlighted innovations like the Xbox Adaptive Joystick and its existing Game Accessibility Feature Tags, which have influenced the new industry-wide tagging system.
“We are excited to be part of the Accessible Games Initiative and happy to share our years of learnings to help inform these new tags,” Xbox stated. “We hope this collaborative effort signals the power of accessibility to connect people, bring joy, and build community across the gaming industry.”
The initiative aims to integrate these accessibility tags into digital storefronts, product pages, and gaming catalogs, ensuring that players can make informed choices about their gaming experience. Other companies that have joined the initiative include Amazon Games, Riot Games, Square Enix, and Warner Bros. Games, further strengthening the movement toward greater inclusion in gaming.
As noted by Xbox, this follows its efforts in November 2021 when it introduced its own game accessibility feature tags:
