Sony to launch play station controller for disabled gamers
Sony corporation is launching a PlayStation controller from December, designed to make gaming easier for people with disabilities, with large buttons arranged in a circle and a joystick on one side.
The gaming giant has been under pressure to address an issue seen as long neglected by the industry despite rivals bringing similar products to market in recent years.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see able-bodied people using it” said impressed gamer Jeremy Lecerf, aka Gyzmo.
Sitting in a wheelchair, the Frenchman specialising in video games and disability was invited by Sony to London to test its new device, which overturns the design of traditional controllers.
He suffers from myopathy and is an ambassador for the French association HandiGamer, which supports disabled gamers.
The new controller “is extremely well thought-out”, according to Lecerf, because the company has tried to make it accessible to people with a range of disabilities.
“It’s good to see that the industry is really taking the plunge” on the issue of accessibility, added the 39-year-old, as he tested the “access controller” on “Stray”, an adventure video game in which the player takes on the role of a cat.
“More and more (video game) publishers are playing the game,” he noted.
Two-thirds of disabled gamers face barriers to playing games, and 40 percent have bought video games that they were unable to use because of poor accessibility, according to a 2021 report by UK disability equality charity scope.
But the issue now appears to be in the crosshairs of the major studios, publishers and manufacturers, seemingly driven by both ethical and financial arguments.
“Video games have enabled me to have a life that is closer to normality, to have a social life,” said Lecerf.
They are an “extremely inclusive tool that opens you up to the world,” he added.
Taking accessibility issues into account is “an industry-wide trend, not limited to PlayStation,” explained Alvin Daniel, Senior Technical Program Manager at PlayStation.
“We wanted not the player to adapt to the controller but the controller to adapt to the player.
“No two people experience a disability in exactly the same way,” he added.
Vanguard/ Chidimma Gold
