Xbox Honors Global Accessibility Awareness Day – Highlights DOOM: The Dark Ages Feature Set
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.
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.
A full exploration of Candy Crush Soda Saga, World of Warcraft, South of Midnight, and Diablo IV accessibility features can be found here.
Bringing Accessibility to the Forefront via the Games Industry, Hardware and Events
Xbox Helps Launch the Accessible Games Initiative
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.
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.
