New controller for disabled gamers

A new Playstation controller has come onto the gaming market. Sony's introduced the device, which helps players who have disabilities. It's been a long wait but it's finally arrived.

Jeremy Lecerf, 'Guizmo', is from an organisation which supports people with disabilities. He was invited by Sony to test it, and found it user-friendly.

Jeremy Lecerf/Guizmo: "And here, the fact that everything is flat and configurable makes it much easier to access and play the game."

A report in 2021 by UK disability group SCOPE, discovered that two thirds of disabled gamers face problems when playing. 40 percent of them have experienced buying games which they later found were unsuitable.

Alvin Daniel, who's the Programme Manager for Playstation, discusses the typical problems of traditional controllers.

Alvin Daniel: "And it would greatly limit the amount of time they could spend playing because it was so difficult and uncomfortable, basically. And we hope that with the Access controller, it opens up a window now to being able to play longer and more comfortably, which they simply couldn't do before."

Sony's Access Controller has given this one-handed player the chance to play after 15 years.

Melanie Eilert: "I can only play with my right hand. So the number of inputs I can do is limited.

Interviewer: And so how does this change your whole gaming experience?

Melanie Eilert: "So, with the external buttons I can attach, the number of buttons I can use increases."

Rather than players learning to use the controller, Sony's controller changes to the user. And that's important due to the variety of disabilities.

Sony's main competitor, Microsoft, brought their controller to the market five years ago. Now, people in the gaming industry are realising how necessary it is to include everyone.

For Guizmo, video games have changed his life by letting him meet new people.

Jeremy Lecerf/Guizmo: "For me, video games have enabled me to have a life, quite simply. A life that was closer to normality. Why is that? Because online gaming in particular has allowed me to have a social life, and that's why I tend to say that video games are an extremely inclusive tool."

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