Previously, we covered Xbox’s accessibility feature tags, which allowed players to see whether a game had included particular accessibility features. The tags could also be used to filter games to help find titles that included these features.
As a founding member of the Entertainment Software Association’s Accessible Games Initiative (AGI), Microsoft are now implementing the new AGI tags on Xbox, in place of these. They do currently note that they are, ‘in the process of transitioning the majority of its Xbox accessibility feature tags to match these new tags. During this transition, some of the newer tags may not appear across all Xbox experiences.’
The AGI tags are designed to be used by a number of participating members to offer consistency with accessibility feature tags used for players on different platforms: ‘Accessible Games Initiative tags will appear where accessibility information is shared for a particular game. You may find the Accessible Games Initiative tags on game product pages, digital storefronts, in digital catalogues and more.’
In this post, we will go through the new AGI tags now used on Xbox that are related to the motor accessibility of a game and their definitions for what a game needs to include to be able to apply these specific tags to their game. We will also include descriptions of the Xbox accessibility feature tags that are still also in use on Xbox, to supplement these. We will then finish by looking at how all these tags can be used in the store to filter and find Xbox games that include specific accessibility features.
You can jump down past the background information directly to the definitions, with the ‘gameplay’ and ‘input’ tag links, below:
Background
Other companies involved in the development of the Accessible Games Initiative alongside Microsoft, were: Electronic Arts, Google, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Ubisoft. The initiative’s goal is to, ‘improve players’ gameplay experiences by providing clear information about the accessibility features available in video games.’
Regarding the use of the tags on platforms other than Xbox, the ‘Where to find us‘ section on the AGI website states that, ‘Additional companies are currently adding tag information to their storefronts.’
Many of the original Xbox accessibility feature tags have now been updated to an equivalent AGI tag. For instance, instead of the ‘Adjustable Difficulty’ tag, the new ‘Difficulty Levels’ tag is used instead, and in place of ‘Progress savings options’, a ‘Save Anytime’ tag is now used.
However, six of the original Xbox accessibility feature tags do remain in use on Xbox, that do not have an equivalent AGI tag. These additional tags are, ‘supplemental to the Accessible Games Initiative tags’ and ‘offer additional insights on accessibility features that go beyond those covered by the Accessible Games Initiative tags.’
Of the six, the Xbox ‘gameplay feature’ tags that remain are, ‘Accessibility on launch’, ‘On-demand tutorials’ and ‘Pauseable’. Of the ‘input feature’ tags, ‘Adjustable input sensitivity’ and ‘Single stick gameplay’ remain. In addition, the ‘Additional accessibility information’ remains, which allows developers to link to a page with more information about features separate to the information shared by using the tags.
Motor Accessibility-Related Tags
Below is a list of the tags relating to the motor accessibility of a game and their accompanying descriptions. More information can be found on the AGI tags by clicking on their titles, which takes you to each of the tags’ pages on the AGI’s website, sharing more details and exceptions alongside the descriptions . More information on the Xbox accessibility feature tags still in use, can be found on the Xbox support website.
For game developers, more information on implementing each of these features can be found via downloadable pdfs below the tag pages on the AGI website as well as on the Microsoft Game Dev Docs section on Accessibility Feature Tags, which covers both the new Accessible Games Initiative Tags they have implemented, and the Xbox accessibility feature tags still in use.
Gameplay Feature Tags
Accessibility Games Initiative Tags:
- Difficulty Levels – ‘Lets you select from multiple difficulty options, including at least one option that reduces the intensity of the challenges.’
- Save Anytime – ‘Lets you manually save your progress at any time.’
Xbox accessibility feature tags still in use:
- Accessibility on Launch – ‘When a player launches a game for the first time, they’ll see accessibility settings before any game content or videos begin.’
- On-demand Tutorials – ‘Tutorials are available that explain and demonstrate core gameplay. These tutorials can be accessed without losing game progress.’
- Pauseable – ‘A game can be paused at any time, except during save/loading screens and when playing online multiplayer modes.’
Input Feature Tags
Accessibility Games Initiative Tags:
- Basic Input Remapping – ‘Lets you rearrange the button controls.’
- Full Input Remapping – ‘Lets you choose which action in the game is assigned to which control.’
- Playable with Buttons Only – ‘Lets you play using only buttons where the amount of pressure doesn’t affect the controls.’
- Playable with Keyboard Only – ‘Lets you play using only your keyboard.’
- Playable with Mouse Only – ‘Lets you play using only your mouse.’
- Playable with Touch Only – ‘Lets you play using only touch controls.’
- Playable without Button Holds – ‘Lets you play without button holds.’
- Playable without Motion Controls – ‘Lets you play without using motion controls.’
- Playable without Rapid Button Presses – ‘Lets you avoid repetitive button actions like button mashing and quick-time events.’
- Playable without Touch Controls – ‘Lets you play without using touchpads or touchscreens.’
- Stick Inversion – ‘Lets you change how direction inputs such as thumbsticks affect game movement in the up and down and left and right directions.’
Xbox accessibility feature tags still in use:
- Adjustable Input Sensitivity – ‘The sensitivity of sticks, triggers, race wheels, mouse movement, and other types of analog input can be increased or decreased.’
- Single Stick Gameplay – ‘The game can be played using only a single analog stick or D-pad, along with additional buttons or triggers.’
Using the Tags
When viewing a game in the store on an Xbox console, the tags are listed in the information when viewing a particular game. You can find these by scrolling down to the ‘game features’ section of the game’s store page.
To start filtering games that include a particular tag on the store on an Xbox console, you need to select a particular group of games, such as ‘Top New Games’ and then press ‘X’ to bring up the filters. You can then use these to filter games by one or more accessibility features.
To use the tags to filter games on the Xbox app on PC, you select a group of games (eg ‘All PC Games’) and then use the ‘filters’ option which includes the tags under ‘accessibility features’. To view the tags in a specific game to see the accessibility features included in it, you can go to ‘More’ on a game’s store page.
If using the Xbox.com website to search for games, again you select a group of games (eg ‘all games’) and then use the accessibility dropdown in the sidebar. Again, to view the tags in a specific game to see the accessibility features included in it, you can go to ‘More’ on a game’s store page.
We hope that this post has helped introduce the Accessible Games Initiative Tags that are related to the motor accessibility of a game and how they can be used on Xbox to navigate the stores to find games with accessibility features that players may benefit from.
For more GameAccess posts on accessibility features in games, please use our ‘Accessibility Feature’ tag or explore our ‘Games’ category.
For game developers, more information on the tags and accessibility guidelines for Xbox can be found on Microsoft’s Game Dev Docs under Accessibility.
SpecialEffect’s Developer Resource:
For video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their specific games, please visit https://specialeffectdevkit.info/
The SpecialEffect DevKit is a resource created by SpecialEffect for game developers who are looking to improve the motor accessibility of their game for players.
Over seven main topics, the DevKit covers many of the motor accessibility options we look for when assessing how accessible a game might be to some players.
Like the examples from the Accessible Games Initiative and Xbox Accessibility Feature tags shared above, the topics fall into one of two categories – Input, which focuses on how players interact with a game through the input devices that they use, and Gameplay, which looks at ways of altering the gameplay to allow players to play at a level of challenge that suits them with their current set-up.
Topics are made up of several modules that each focus on a different aspect of the topic. You can view the full topic in a single video, or as individual modules in multiple, shorter videos, if you prefer.