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Another high-profile developer has made the headlines for its inclusion of accessible controls.
Following the wide praising of Naughty Dog last week for the number of control scheme options in Uncharted 4, which allowed disabled player Josh Straub to complete the game, Blizzard has been similarly lauded for its ‘extensive’ control settings in new shooter Overwatch.
Overwatch fan Zak, who was born with cerebral palsy, took to Reddit to thank Blizzard for allowing him to “snipe for the first time in my life”.
“The way my hands are I am only able to use one hand for one action at one time per hand,” he explained. “So essentially I can only press two buttons simultaneously.
“Because of this I have always been limited to certain play styles and characters in games. Yasuo in League of Legends is a no go for me because of all the mechanics at play. Grapplers in fighting games usually off limits because they mostly require simultaneous button presses.
“Shooters are the biggest offender though. It’s a must to be able to move, aim, and fire at the same time and I am only able to do two at a time. This pigeonholes me into using shotguns… that’s it.”
Zak highlighted Overwatch’s “endless control customisation”, adding that “because of your extensive options I am able to play every character in the roster and it feels great”.
His heart-felt message concludes: “I really hope someone at Blizzard sees this. I want to make [them] aware that this kinda game design matters."
