Can you also play video games if you have a missing arm or poor eyesight? It’s a question that the relatively young gaming industry hasn’t dealt with yet. But more and more companies are taking players with disabilities into account. like him announce Sony recently announced that its online store more clearly indicates the accessibility options that the game offers.

Abstraction Brabant also improves accessibility for non-standard players. “In particular, we’re adding visual accessibility options, such as color blindness. In some games, colors contrast in a way that people don’t always see correctly. If we add another color palette, the colors will separate better,” says developer Elmer Lexmond.

Good news, says one such player with a disability, Paul van der Meyde. He is paralyzed in his right arm after a cerebral hemorrhage and needs adjustments to be able to play. Through his own foundation, he is also committed to making gaming more accessible to people with disabilities.

Paul shows how difficult it is to play an inaccessible game:

The fact that more attention is being paid to accessibility in games is evident from the mods that have been made to major games in recent years. bee Horizon Forbidden West For example, produced by the Dutch developer Guerrilla Games, there were a lot of them last year attention spent on. For example, fast parts of the game can be slowed down, for example to improve aiming at the enemy.

Also popular game Hogwarts Legacy his different Options For non-standard players, like reading subtitles. Sheikh’s ring It was criticized because, according to gamers, the developer did not do enough to help the visually impaired, for example.

Attention is also paid to this at international award ceremonies. In addition to categories like Best Game and Music, there was also an award for Best Innovation last year Accessibility. According to developer Abstraction Lexmond, this trend is developing. “In older games, accessibility was added later. But now it’s thought of at the design stage. Instead of adding something special in the past, we now want games to be accessible to everyone from the start.”

Van der Made also sees him increasingly on the radar of major brands. But it can always be better. “Controlling the controller with one hand just isn’t feasible. It would be nice if this was always considered as standard.”

If the young players encounter something, he hears about it through his organization. Enough adjustments are being made for color blindness, but there is still a small amount of consideration for young players who are visually impaired or blind. The last of us It can be played by a completely blind person. You can see there’s more interest in her as a result.”