Grad Helps Improve Accessibility in ‘Diablo IV’

As a Test Analyst for ‘Diablo IV’, Brock Davis works on accessibility features for players with disabilities.

Brock Davis sits at his desk at Blizzard Entertainment. Two computer screens displaying the ‘Diablo IV’ logo are on the desk in front of him.

Brock Davis wants everyone to be able to play video games. In spite of cerebral palsy, the 35-year-old is making an impact on this front by working on Diablo IV’s accessibility features as a Test Analyst at Blizzard Entertainment.  

Brock’s gaming journey started on the PlayStation 2 console. 

“Games were my go-to and that's how I made friends,” he says of his childhood. “I would have them over and play games with them.”

The native of Muscatine, Iowa attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Game Development. He believed getting a master’s degree would help increase his professional opportunities.

“It’s hard to get a job when you are disabled because [of] so many stereotypes,” says Brock, who verbally communicates using a text-to-speech app on his iPad.

He chose Full Sail University’s Game Design master’s program and studied on campus. He says everyone at Full Sail was very supportive, especially former course director Dr. Adams Greenwood-Ericksen. His biggest takeaways from the coursework were how to design, produce, and conduct QA testing on games.

Combining his passion for games and his life experiences, Brock was determined to make a difference in the gaming industry. After a few jobs at smaller studios, he started working at Blizzard Entertainment in February of 2021. He first worked as an Associate Test Analyst on Diablo II: Resurrected, and this year, he was promoted to Test Analyst for Diablo IV.

Accessibility features in games include closed captioning, adjusting the contrast, the use of haptic feedback, and the ability to have text on the screen read aloud. Brock’s main job is to make sure that Diablo IV updates are accessible to players with disabilities. For instance, if a screen reader isn’t reading a menu for a visually impaired user, he will pass along this information to a designer to make sure the code gets fixed.

Brock explains how he oversees the testing of the popular action role-playing game.

“To begin with, I have a meeting with a producer to go over the details of any new accessibility features,” he says. “I [then] design and develop test plans for these new features and then watch them get run by our outsourced testers. If they have any questions or suggestions about the testing, they contact me, and I contact the designer or producer.”

Finding a job is often extra challenging for people with disabilities. He offers up some insight on navigating this process based on his personal experience.

“Persistence pays off,” he says. “If you get a rejection, keep applying and you'll get somewhere. That being said, the gaming industry is a hard industry to crack and make it.”

Brock’s ultimate goal is “to make a difference in the gaming industry as well as to be an inspiration to other disabled people to say, ‘If Brock can do this, so can I.’”