WoW: Shadowlands Adds Controller Support After 16 Years For Accessibility

After 16 years, Blizzard Entertainment has indicated that they'll be adding controller support for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands in order to increase the accessibility of the expansion and the game as a whole. The feature comes as part of a large volume of changes and updates that Shadowlands will debut when it releases this fall.

With World of Warcraft: Shadowlands on schedule to meet its Q4 launch, fans have been eagerly tallying up the new features that will come with the expansion. Thus far, Blizzard has indicated that beyond the prospect of revisiting the Lich King storyline and seeing what Sylvanus has been up to, as well as visiting the new zones in the Shadowlands, the expansion will introduce some interesting new mechanical features. The addition of a decreased level cap and time jumps stands to aid in drawing newcomers to the game, and improving on accessibility features could have a similar effect. 

Related: Blizzard Promises World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Will Launch Fall of 2020

According to a post by Community Manager Kaivax on Blizzard's discussion forum, the controller support will include features like key-binds, camera support, and player character turning using controllers such as an Xbox Adaptive Controller. The support update is intended to increase the accessibility of Shadowlands, going beyond the game's current accessibility as provided by Blizzard. In the past, Warcraft players have tackled accessibility hurdles in the game by turning to the third-party add-on ConsolePort to connect the game to an outside controller beyond mouse and keyboard, and the controller support feature will attempt to mitigate those concerns (without actually tasking Blizzard with creating its own console port feature).

Accessibility has been an increasingly addressed topic in gaming, so it stands to reason that Blizzard would be addressing their own accessibility standards through the expansion. Microsoft's release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018 was intended to infuse gaming with new accessibility standards, even down to the packaging it was wrapped in. Games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Uncharted have been increasingly diligent about incorporating features to improve the accessibility standards of gameplay. One of the biggest losses in the downfall of Mixer comes in the loss of accessibility features that drew gamers like Ewok to the space, and that opened up the world of streaming popular games like Fortnite to a wider audience of creators and viewers.

With next-gen consoles set to release, and in some cases neglecting to incorporate accessibility features, it's heartening to see developers taking responsibility for incorporating accessibility tools into their games. The controller support feature indicates a step in the direction of a wider audience for Warcraft and possibly more accessibility features to come later on down the road.

Next: World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Will Make Character Gender Changes Free

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will be available on PC in Fall 2020.

Source: Blizzard

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