New Xbox Adaptive Controller for Gamers With Disabilities Announced by Microsoft
Players with disabilities and mobility problems don't have to be left out of the latest home console games just because they can't hold a controller. Microsoft has just announced the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and it lets gamers mix and match an array of peripherals that let them use more than just their fingers to play the latest games on Xbox One.
Since it's an Xbox One controller just like the standard peripheral, this device will also let players with disabilities play games on Windows 10 PCs, as well, so long as their game supports Xbox controllers as Polygon also pointed out.
Surprisingly, Microsoft seemed to have gotten inspiration for the Xbox Adaptive Controller from their special model geared for eSports contenders, the Xbox Elite controller. Designing a controller for demanding users meant that it needed to be made in such a way that gamers can easily customize them according to their preferences, and even when switching to a different game.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
As a result, gamers who were not able to use the standard Xbox One controller found that they could modify an Xbox Elite controller, by swapping in custom parts and remapping the button layouts, to fit with a controller scheme that they could actually use.
"The first learnings we had about accessibility [from the Elite controller], we didn't do that in as intentional of a way," Navin Kumar, director of product marketing at Xbox, admitted about their new product.
The new controller from Microsoft had 19 jacks on the rear side, labeled clearly to indicate that each of the 19 buttons of the standard Xbox controller can be connected to an array of peripherals. These range from oversized, colorful buttons that can be easily hit by a palm, to foot pedals, microswitches that can be attached to fingertips, and other assistive accessories.
"We designed the controller to work around ecosystems that exist today, with peripherals that people who have limited mobility may already own today," Kumar noted.
Details about this new device were actually leaked a few days earlier when Twitter user h0x0d, a known informant on everything about Microsoft, posted an uncaptioned photo of what looks to be an unfinished promo image of the new Xbox Adaptive controller, minus the attached peripherals.
After the reveal, Microsoft has also posted an in-depth story about the Xbox Adaptive Controller on their website. Among the stories told by the first users of the new controller was Solomon Romney, a Microsoft Stores retail learning specialist in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"If I want to play a game entirely with my feet, I can. I can make the controls fit my body, my desires, and I can change them anytime I want," he said about the new controller.
"You plug in whatever you want and go. It takes virtually no time to set it up and use it. It could not be simpler," he added.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller will cost $99.99, and Microsoft expects to have them go on sale later this year.