Twist ties that bedevil. Thick plastic requiring scissors to break open. Tape that gets wrapped around fingers. Those cursed strips known as zip ties.
Packaging can be annoying for any consumer. But for people with disabilities, it often creates yet another challenge in a world riddled with them, an unnecessary obstacle that leads to frustration and a delay getting to the object inside.
Recognizing that reality, Microsoft’s Packaging Design team faced a unique challenge in creating a box for the new Xbox Adaptive Controller, designed to accommodate gamers with limited mobility. The box for the device, which will be available for $99.99 in September through the Microsoft Store, needed to be as accessible as what was inside. It had to enable gamers with limited dexterity, who might be using just one hand or arm, to easily open the box and remove the controller. And it had to be as high-quality and aesthetically appealing as any other Xbox packaging.
This is an incredibly well thought-out product. Bravo to Microsoft for this product.
You just really want a tied up bag.
It seems odd to me that they’d put in all this effort for an accessory to a product that is hard to open. They should release a console + controller package on their website that is easy to open.
Amazon should take note of this. Their ‘frustration-free packaging’ is still horrible for people with limited dexterity (well, except when compared to plastic blister packaging, but that’s horrible for everyone).
In all seriousness though, this is probably one of the most well thought out products I’ve seen from Microsoft in a very long time. It’s a bit overpriced in my opinion, but that’s about the only complaint I have about it, and Xbox controllers from MS are all overpriced in my opinion, so it’s not even a complaint that’s specific to this product.
The worst culprit in package accessibility is the “easy open” vacuum pack blister. You need claws of steel to open one of those, whether you have disabilities or not, and reaching for the scissors is often the only way to go. And you get dozens of those a month!