The Xbox Adaptive Controller had caught the eye of fans at Microsoft’s E3 2018 floor event at the Microsoft Theater. The tech company had brought the unit and displayed them proudly , being on standby to answer questions and discuss about the control.

Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller team was honored for the People of the Year award for creating an accessible gaming equipment, basically allowing anyone who can afford a non-accessible controller to also manage it smoothly.

“Whether or not we have a personal need for it, we have all heard of and likely admired the Xbox Adaptive Controller this year”

Microsoft isn’t the first to develop controllers, or other devices to allow those who struggle to use standard controllers the ability to play the games they love. That work has been done for years expensively and quietly (though probably not intentionally so), spearheaded by the people for whom the issue is a necessary one: either the work is done, or they can’t play games.

Groups like SpecialEffect and AbleGamers have been on the frontlines for years, laying the groundwork for the Xbox Adaptive Controller to exist. But for far too long, their work has been too costly or too niche in the eyes of the broader industry to become mainstream, supported, common, or expected.

With the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Microsoft has paved the path to the rest of the industry to join it in developing for accessibility. Neither tech giants such as Sony nor Nintendo has followed suit, but one enterprising user has confirmed. Other consoles (in today’s case, the Nintendo Switch) can nimbly support Microsoft’s ambitious controller after jumping through simple hoops.