Accessibility teams hit hard in XBOX’s “reset”
Among 1600 jobs cut by Microsoft this week the axe has fallen heavily on XBOX’s accessibility teams, raising serious questions about the company’s ability to continue its dedication to accessibility.
As part of its announced “XBOX reset,” Microsoft has laid out plans to cut thousands of jobs, with 1600 laid off with immediate effect at XBOX on July 6th and another 1600 to follow over the next twelve months. According to former XBOX employees impacted by these layoffs, they have hit accessibility teams across multiple departments and studios particularly hard.
The timing of these cuts is notable. What XBOX chief executive Asha Sharma described to staff as “the most significant restructure in XBOX history” coincides with the beginning of Disability Pride Month — a period of celebrating disability communities and in which individuals and businesses can demonstrate their allyship.
Sharma coupled that proclamation with an optimistic statement that her goal is for “XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect.”
It’s an extraordinary goal considering a billion people represents roughly 12% of the global population. It comes as Microsoft and XBOX curtail teams that have historically supported, by Microsoft’s own estimations, 450 million disabled players.
XBOX did not respond to my request for comment.
The scope and scale of these cuts, and how they will impact accessibility at XBOX remains difficult to ascertain. Former XBOX employees have reported that large swathes of accessibility staff have been let go, with some dedicated teams possibly dissolved completely. Multiple sources confirm that the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service has effectively disappeared, its testers and leads having all been laid off.
This service, composed of disabled players, tested games and moderated the use of accessibility tags on the XBOX storefront. Now, according to one former employee, studios will not be able to obtain accurate accessibility reports, or reliable data on accessibility tags.
Former employees also suggest that staff seconded to support accessibility departments have been returned to their original teams — supported by XBOX executive vice president Amy Coleman stating XBOX had “redeployed” 500 staff amid its layoffs. Elsewhere, sources confirm that accessibility work associated with some XBOX games has been terminated on short notice.
Adding to the complexity of this estimation is the restructuring that has also seen Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs spun off as independent studios. A series of divestments that adds weight to Microsoft’s stated goal of eliminating 20% of XBOX jobs by the end of the financial year.
None of this is happening in a vacuum. These cuts follow multiple waves of layoffs across Microsoft and XBOX, while the company simultaneously invests billions of dollars into artificial intelligence with little to, publicly, show for it. Now, it appears to be chasing growth in its user base with smaller teams during one of the most challenging periods in gaming’s history.
Challenges that are inevitably passed on to players. Disabled players, in particular, are already grappling with the skyrocketing cost of gaming. With rising costs of hardware components and increasing scarcity, further price hikes appear inevitable. When disabled people already face increased costs of living — estimated in the UK at an additional £1095 in 2025 (an increase from £975 in 2023) — these costs will quickly become unsustainable, if they haven’t already.
For XBOX, long recognised as an industry pioneer in gaming accessibility — most notably through hardware like the XBOX Adaptive Controller — these layoffs raise profound questions within the gaming accessibility community about the company’s ability to sustain a commitment to inclusion.
“XBOX is making a grave mistake by reducing its accessibility department,” says accessibility consultant, Leo Macleod. “It's important to have as many voices contributing to a project as possible when designing inclusive products.”
“I'm not sure what the future will hold for XBOX,” they continue. “Speaking from my own experience as a disabled person, I don't buy video games or video game consoles I can't play.”
The true consequences of this sudden attrition within XBOX’s accessibility teams are, according to sources impacted by the cuts, unlikely to be truly clear for several years owing to the length of game development cycles. Games releasing in the next 12 months will likely still have “the luxury of having support from accessibility teams within XBOX for a majority of development,” says a former XBOX employee, “but I worry what games, software, and hardware beyond that may look like.”
Another offers a starker vision: “How can game studios continue to advance accessibility without the headcount, funding, and support staff needed to safely explore and test those new innovations?”
That appears to be a significant concern for accessibility going forward at XBOX. One supported by recent stagnation driven by the graveyard of closed studios, cancelled games, and personnel reductions left behind by continuing industry chaos.
In the short term, at least, it is already clear the future accuracy of the XBOX storefront’s accessibility tags has been significantly compromised by the closure of the Accessibility Testing Service, as its remit included both the moderation of tags and correction of errors. Previous data suggests that almost 90% of developers mislabel their games, while two-thirds fail to do so consistently across storefronts.
This does not mean, however, that accessibility will vanish from XBOX. These teams have laid extensive groundwork that is unlikely to disappear, and one former employee maintains that many remain at XBOX who are deeply passionate about accessibility. “I do worry that with the loss of many experienced accessibility roles and resources, that the company will no longer be consistently making huge innovations to gaming accessibility like they once were,” they say. “Worst case scenario, XBOX just kind of stagnates when it comes to accessibility.”
For now, the future of accessibility remains uncertain. Though it is clear the teams let go leave a significant hole in an endeavour already impacted by industry chaos. In a restructuring so narrowly focussed on margins and cost-cutting, the ultimate price for opening that hole may be human.
“It is because of the incredible work of the XBOX accessibility team that I can still play video games after becoming disabled, and for that, I am forever grateful,” Macleod says. “I hope the workers that were laid off can continue their important work at a company that properly values them.”