This week at Game Developers Conference (GDC), Xbox have publicly released their Gaming for Everyone Product Inclusion Framework. This framework, which has been in use internally at Xbox since 2019, provides actionable resources to help game developers create more inclusive products and games.
Gaming for Everyone
Gaming For Everyone, Xbox’ strategy to bring more inclusive products to a wider range of players, was first launched in 2015. This helped make things like the Xbox Adaptive Controller and inclusive character customization in Sea of Thieves possible.
The Gaming for Everyone Product Inclusion Framework filled a need for a central location for information, resources, and support. The framework was first launched internally in 2019 and evolved since. Now Xbox sees fit to share the framework publicly for anyone to benefit from. The framework focuses on four key areas, each aimed at different aspects where players may be unintentionally excluded. Together Xbox calls them Inclusive Growth Doorways.
The first of these doorways is approachability. Approachability focuses on the inclusion of players both new and old, from all levels of experience. The second, representation, doesn’t focus on skill levels, but the diversity in the community. Globalization is there to ensure players’ experience relates to where they are in the world, in a respectful manner. Lastly, and by no means least, is accessibility. Accessibility of course focuses on including players regardless of their ability, by avoiding and removing unintentional barriers to play.
Guidelines, not a checklist
Developers can now access a central Resource Hub, which helps them get started with the framework. This resource hub includes examples, best practices, case studies and more for each Inclusive Growth Doorway. In the article announcing the Gaming for Everyone Product Inclusion Framework, it’s mentioned that it is not meant to be a checklist to go through in order to end up with an inclusive game. Like any guidelines, such as the Game Accessibility Guidelines, they exist to guide developers towards the right choices for their game. Every game is unique, and requires different ways to approach similar problems. Making it easier to identify those problems and learn about possible solutions makes solving them that much more efficient.
