Written by Matt Packard, Access and Grants Officer at Centre for Accessibility Australia.
Gaming has been part of my life since I was about five years old, when my parents bought me an early desktop computer loaded with Dig Dug, Test Drive 2 and Monty Mole. My mum would prop me on the desk so I could operate the keyboard with my feet, as I have a limb difference.
Soon afterwards, my occupational therapist suggested a console to improve the dexterity of my toes at home. Something I already loved was officially deemed therapy. Bring it on.
I spent hours playing during school holidays. Thirty years later, gaming remains one of the few things I can do completely independently. That independence matters – which is why inaccessible controls are more than a minor inconvenience.
Games have evolved enormously since controllers had a D-pad and four action buttons. A modern controller has about 11 buttons, two joysticks and a D-pad, and games regularly demand several inputs at once. Those controls are designed for hands. When you play with your feet, reaching them can require painful contortions and leave both big toes cramping. People with limited dexterity or mobility in their hands face their own versions of the same barrier.
For years, developers such as international gaming juggernaut Ubisoft focused on graphics, stories and gameplay while accessibility remained an afterthought. If you could not use the controls, you were out of luck – and you often had to buy the game before finding that out.
That is why Ubisoft’s swashbuckling pirate simulator Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced caught my attention. I had loved and completed the 2013 original, despite awkward controls that left me frustrated and sore. When a modern remaster with a full suite of accessibility options was announced, I pre-ordered it immediately.
At first, Ubisoft appeared to have got it right. On release day I found toggle aim, trigger swap, sensitivity adjustments and button remapping – everything I needed. The game also included options for players with low vision, colour blindness and epilepsy. This was not accessibility bolted on as an afterthought; it looked considered. Brilliant!
Then, about 20 hours into the game, I needed to do some harpooning to develop my character. Entering the activity wiped out my accessibility selections, including toggle aim and trigger swap, and restored the default controls. The mini-game had no equivalent remapping options.
An essential game mechanic was suddenly hidden behind an activity I could not complete. Spiffing.
Several disgruntled Google searches confirmed that the problem was not mine. The suggested workaround was to remap the controller manually and lower the mini-game difficulty. I could attempt that because I use an Elite Series controller. Players using a standard console controller could not.
This is where Ubisoft’s accessibility effort fell apart. It had already demonstrated that it understood the need. It had built the right options and promoted them before launch. But it had not carried those options consistently across the whole game.
That makes the failure worse than having no accessibility options in the first place. Ubisoft told players with disability that the game was accessible, accepted their money and allowed them to invest 20 hours before revealing that access had an expiry point. The door looked open; the game simply slammed it shut later.
Games are becoming more accessible, and Ubisoft deserves credit for many of the options it included. But accessibility is not a menu of good intentions. It has to survive every mode, mission and mechanic. Anything less is a false promise of access – and enough to make my toes cramp.
I am new to Centre for Accessibility Australia and have been surprised by how many gamers work here… I may have found my people. It just shows that there are many more people with disability who game than you think. We work here because we want to improve digital accessibility, so I have reported the issue to Ubisoft but need multiple reports of the issue to get them to action a patch or fix. If this issue is something that you’d like to see remedied, whether for you or a family member, let’s all let Ubisoft know by reporting the issue by clicking here Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Bug Reporter.