Xbox breaches disability barrier
Adaptive Controller allows everybody to play.
Microsoft is introducing a new kind of controller to allow gamers with disabilities to play Xbox and PC games in whatever way works best for them.
Called the Xbox Adaptive Controller, the new $99.99 device looks and feels different from the standard gaming remotes designed for two-handed use. There are no directional pads, colorful A/B/X/Y buttons or triggers on this controller. Instead, the remote is a white slab with two large black buttons, two USB ports and a bevy of 3.5mm accessibility ports on the back.
All of this is designed to allow gamers to customize the controller to exactly what they need in order to play in the way most comfortable to them. It can be placed on the floor to allow gamers to use the two buttons with their feet and features screws on the bottom for mounting onto wheelchairs or tables. The device, to be released later this year, can be charged through its USB-C port.
“In the U.S. we estimate that 14% of Xbox One gamers have a temporary mobility limitation and that 8% of gamers have a permanent mobility limitation,” said Navin Kumar, director of product marketing for Xbox accessories. “We felt like we needed to do more for this audience.”
For Steven Spohn, a volunteer who also serves as chief operations officer of Washington, D.C.-based AbleGamers, the creation of the Adaptive Controller presents a possible game-changer.
The non-profit previously developed its own custom accessible controller for the Xbox that it gave away to those who needed it. That custom controller, optimized to an individual’s needs, would often cost hundreds of dollars to create, significantly more than Microsoft’s target price.
The Adaptive Controller “will be in what we like to call the ‘presents range,’ ” Spohn says. “This thing plus a couple of switches will be in the range where basically, with friends and family help, you can always raise enough money to be able to afford the whole device.”
The Adaptive Controller, developed out of an internal Microsoft hackathon in 2015, uses the 3.5mm standard for accessibility peripherals. It can work with a range of available accessories including bite switches, single-handed joysticks and foot pedals (accessories are sold separately from the controller). Each slot on the back is labeled for its corresponding traditional button, making setting up the controller as simple as “plug and play.”
Since it is seen by the Xbox as a regular controller, gamers can play any Xbox One game just as they would with the traditional remote. Like the regular controller, there is also a headphone jack so gamers can trash-talk friends and competitors online. “Everything that a standard controller can do, this controller can do,” Kumar says.
Microsoft partnered with a number of organizations while developing the Adaptive Controller, including The AbleGamers Charity, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, SpecialEffect, Warfighter Engaged and Craig Hospital to ensure it was properly optimized.
Spohn’s group has helped beta test the controller in recent months, playing various Xbox games including Sea of Thieves and Fortnite. Spohn — who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that affects muscle movement and physical strength — tested the controller with the PC using ultralight switches that require little physical pressure to activate.
“When a company as big as Microsoft starts introducing devices like the Xbox Adaptive Controller ... it gives me another tool to do my work,” Spohn says. “The fact they are able to mass produce this device and make it very affordable for the average gamer is just amazing.”