Announcing the Xbox Adaptive Controller for accessible gaming

[Guest Elana Pidgeon]

Here are some of the highlights from Phil’s post:

 

 

“We have been on a journey of inclusive design, which celebrates and draws inspiration from people who are often overlooked in the typical design process.

 

For gamers with limited mobility, finding controller solutions to fit their individual needs has been challenging. The solutions that exist today are often expensive, hard to find, or require significant technical skill to create. A number of individuals and organizations are creating custom solutions, but it has been often difficult for them to scale when most rigs need to be so personalized.

 

Joining the Xbox family of controllers and devices, the Xbox Adaptive Controller was created to address these challenges and remove barriers to gaming by being adaptable to more gamers’ needs. It was developed in partnership with organizations around the world, including The AbleGamers Foundation, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Craig Hospital, SpecialEffect, and Warfighter Engaged. We worked closely with them and directly with gamers who have limited mobility to assist in our development.

 

Our goal was to make the device as adaptable as possible, so gamers can create a setup that works for them in a way that is plug-and-play, extensible, and affordable. In addition to working with common adaptive switches that gamers with limited mobility may already own, it has two large buttons built in. These buttons can also be reprogrammed to act as any of the standard controller’s button inputs via the Xbox Accessories app.

 

To make the Xbox Adaptive Controller a viable solution for the widest possible range of gamers with limited mobility, we’ve worked closely with third-party manufacturers to support external inputs which can be plugged in to the new controller.

 

At $99.99 USD and available exclusively through Microsoft Store, the Xbox Adaptive Controller will offer significant value over the customized alternatives that exist today. We’re looking forward to sharing more about the Xbox Adaptive Controller in a few weeks at E3. The Xbox Adaptive Controller will be launching later this year, and we’ll share more information soon about pre-order availability.”

 

To read the full post from Phil Spencer, head over to Xbox Wire, and learn more about accessibility at Microsoft here.

 

The post Announcing the Xbox Adaptive Controller for accessible gaming appeared first on Windows Experience Blog.

 

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