AbleGamers Brazil recently debuted the new UMAGIC (short for Universal Modular Adaptive Gaming Interface Controller), an innovative controller designed to help gamers with a wide range of disabilities play games on several different consoles. Unlike previous accessibility-focused controllers such as theXbox Adaptive controller, the UMAGIC includes elements of multiple existing controllers in the form of buttons, switchers, and connectors. This allows players to access Xbox, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and likely even mobile games all using one handy controller.
At the recentGamescom LATAMevent, Game Rant spoke to AbleGamers president Christian Bernauer about the inspiration behind the UMAGIC, the key pillars of its design, and how it will help disabled gamers be able to play more games than ever before. He spoke about his previous experience working with Xbox to implement accessibility at a variety of Brazil-based showcases and events, and how accessibility will play a major role in the relatively newGamescom LATAMboth in 2024 and in the future.This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Changing Attitudes Towards Accessibility
Q: In your time with AbleGamers here in Brazil, what has changed the most?
Bernauer:In Brazil, I think what’s changing the most in the last few years is probably people’s consciousness about accessibility. Five or six years ago, nobody thought that it would be possible for a person with disabilities to play video games. This is probably one of the hardest parts of our work—to spread the word about accessibility.
We were here at ComicCon last year in Brazil with Xbox, and a lot of people with disabilities came by. They saw theXbox Adaptive controllers, and they said, “Oh, my son already plays video games with his mouth,” or “He uses his elbows to move around.” Then they’d say, “Oh, when is this controller going to launch?” It had been on the market for five years already. I think this is the hardest part of the work: getting to the people who actually need the help, to know that they can find help, and this is what has been changing.
Also, I would say we do live streams. We support streamers and, in terms of giving them visibility, I think this is very good because it breaks bias. We all have some prejudices sometimes about people with disabilities, and once people start seeingpeople with disabilities playing, streaming, and having fun, they feel more comfortable, more included. I think these are the most important changes that I’ve seen in the last few years here.
Q: When it comes to that Xbox Adaptive controller story and other accessibility options, why do you think something like the target audience not knowing it exists happens?
Bernauer:You and I, we’re very game nerdy. We know everything that’s going on in the industry because we do this, we work with this. This is our passion. But there are a lot of casual players out there, and they don’t get access to this information. It could be marketing. It could be that they have no idea that this could be possible.
I think it’s probably this idea of, “How can a person who is quadriplegic play video games?” It doesn’t make sense to them. If they have a quadriplegic person in their family, they say “It’s going to be impossible for him to play video games” because they’ve never seen anything like this. Once they see a streamer that’squadriplegic playing with a quad stick, they say, “Oh, this can happen.”
It’s kind of hard to get the information, the rightinformation—because today we have a lot of misinformation—to the people who actually need it. For marketing, maybe just give people with disabilities more visibility and more inclusion. That’s the rule.
The Inspiration Behind The UMAGIC
Q: Where did the original idea for the UMAGIC controller come from?
Bernauer:Actually, it came from two places. Last year, at BIG Festival—what is nowGamescom—we were in touch with the organization, and they said, “We want to do something about accessibility, but we’re small, and we can’t have adaptive controllers everywhere.” Then they said, “How about we put the adaptive controller with one game station, we install all the games in there, and then a person with disabilities can go there and play all the games?”
We thought about it for a little while and said, “This is a good idea when you think about accessibility. It’s not a good idea when you think about inclusion.” Because you have this huge floor area, and you say to the person, “You can only play here, and you cannot enjoy the rest of the show. This felt wrong.
At the time, Gustavo, CEO of Gamescom in Brazil, said, “What can we do about this?” This thing was hammering in our heads for months. Then, in December, we were at the Xbox booth at Brazil ComicCon, and we had a small kid come over. He actually had an Xbox, he played with his mouth with a regular controller. We had the Xbox Adaptive Controller, and we set it up so he could playMinecraftat one of the stations.
It took us 15–20 minutes to set up. He played for 10–20 minutes, and then he said, “Now, I want to playForza,” which was on the station right next to it. We said, okay, we’re going to have to take all that setup and do all that work again. A little bit faster, because we already knew, but still it takes some time. The mom said, “Sorry, we don’t have time for this,” and that really broke my heart.
These were the two drivers. We said we have to find a way that people can have a controller where they can play everywhere, and they don’t have the hassle of having to adapt it every time.
Q: You mentioned that last year Gamescom had the idea of an accessible setup. Has it felt like accessibility inclusion has been at the forefront of Gamescom LATAM?
Bernauer:They have been talking to us since before we were officially here in Brazil. We have been a partner of BIG Festival since 2020, and they always wanted to do accessibility. Maybe they didn’t have enough expertise or the manpower to do this. We were always in touch, and we were always talking about how we could make the show more accessible.
It’s joint work with them that made UMAGIC possible, and they have been improving every time with accessibility. They were open to learning. They want to get better every year. This is way more than we can say for a lot of companies and a lot of trade shows. They’re on the right path.
The Three Pillars: Modular, Universal, and Portable
Q: The press release said that the three pillars of the UMAGIC controller were modular, universal, and portable. What can you tell me about those pillars and how they relate to the system?
Bernauer:Okay, so the modular thing is because every disability is unique. We have to be as flexible as we can, so we have different sizes of buttons and kinds of buttons. We have the clicker, the small button, and we have this big one. We can pretty much put a doorbell here. It would work if it had this sort of connection. This is the way it’s modular because we can set it up every way we want.
The second pillar was universal. Universal is the part where it works with all the different consoles—Xbox, PlayStation,Switch, and PC. We haven’t had time to test it, but it probably will work with iOS and Android because it’s based on the Xbox Adaptive controller and we know that works. We just didn’t have the time to test and troubleshoot it, but it will probably work on mobile too if you get a connection to that.
Portable—it’s just not that heavy. A person who is in a wheelchair could just put it on their lap and go around the exhibition floor; the idea was for them to be mobile, to go everywhere they want, so they can enjoy the show.
Plus, make sure you don’t run into another situation like the kid who wanted to playMinecraftandForza.
Bernauer:Yeah. Because he was stuck at that station and he wanted to playFortnite,too, but there was no Adaptive controller forFortniteeven though there wasFortniteat the Xbox booth.
Accessibility Technology Will Continue To Develop
Q: Accessibility is a spectrum. Are there disabilities where the UMAGIC controller would not be able to help?
Bernauer:People with severe movement limitations. For a person to use thiscontroller, they have to be able to use their arms or hands in some way. A person who is quadriplegic, for example, and has no movement in their arms or legs, won’t be able to play. They need to have this minimum amount of upper limb mobility.
This is who it’s aimed at. It will work with people that don’t have fine movement in their hands. A regular controller needs a lot of fine movements, so this will work for people who don’t have fine movements, who have low mobility in their arms, but they can move their hands a little bit. Or, the other way around, they can’t move their hands, but they can move their arms and elbows. This is the goal.
I would say that a person who doesn’t have an arm or happens to have just one abled arm, this person could also benefit from this controller. But, again, a quadriplegic person, or somebody with cerebral paralysis—which usually are related to very severe movement limitations—this won’t work for them.
Q: In general, do you have advice for people the UMAGIC controller won’t work for, like where to find resources to help them?
Bernauer:They can use, for example, the quad stick, which is aimed at quadriplegic people. They can play with their mouth. It’s kind of like a mouthpiece that they can move around, and they can suck and puff the air to give controls.
And there’s Brazilian technology called Colibri.you may clip it onto your glasses. It’s like a head mouse. You just put it on, and wherever you move, it will move your mouse around. It has a sensor so when you blink it clicks the mouse and you can double-click, too. It has a gyroscope over here, so you can configure the commands, like if I tilt my head to the right it will open a new tab. If I tilt to the left, it will go to the desktop, or scroll the screen up and down, or something like that.
Q: Obviously, Gamescom’s just starting here in Brazil. Is there anything special about the structure, the people, the games, or anything else that stands out to you?
Bernauer:What I loved about Big Festival has carried over into Gamescom LATAM and that’s the amount of indie developers that are here. First of all, the indie scenario has really creative stuff, and people say, “Oh, games aren’t original anymore.” You’ve heard all that talk where it’s just “Oh this is just the same thing. Indie games are a way to show real creativity, and they have the space to do this.
Here, not only can you play these games, but you can talk to the developers and it’s so cool to talk to somebody. I think this is an opportunity not only for players but for people who want to go into the industry. Students can come here, talk to game developers, see their struggles, and decide if they want to invest years of their lives studying computer science, game design, or whatever. See if they’d be happy, so I think it’s a good opportunity to learn the industry, to see the insides of the industry.
You don’t see this in shows where it’s more public-oriented and focused on showcasing, so this is what I love at least.
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