EVO 2023 just wrapped up this past weekend, and a video of a Street Fighter 6 match from the fighting game competition is going viral. In the video, Sven Van de Wege, who goes by the gamertag BlindWarriorSven, won a decisive 2-1 victory against his opponent, a Luke player who goes by EternalPancake. The catch? Van de Wege is blind.
Van de Wege could keep track of his opponent using only audio cues, allowing him to win the match. The crowd cheered upon his victory, and he and EternalPancake shared a hug in a display of showmanship. The event was a display of the potential of disabled gamers and a case for greater accessibility in video games.
Who is BlindWarriorSven, the Blind Street Fighter 6 Player?
Van de Wege, 36, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was six. Due to a tumor that grew in his head, Van de Wege lost his eyesight at a young age. In a 2020 interview with Quest to Conquer Cancer, a fundraising organization for gamers to support cancer research, Van de Wege describes the challenges he faced in adapting to his blindness:
“I was just six years old, I didn’t want to give up… I had to learn how to live without using my eyes. I had to feel things to know what is what. I had to listen to sounds to understand when people were talking to me [and] who it was.”
-BlindWarriorSven
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Eventually, Sven won his battle with cancer, but his blindness remained. One of the biggest motivators for him was his love for video games. Playing Street Fighter II at a young age helped him realize he could use his hearing to play the games he loved without visual aid. As Van de Wege said, “[I] felt like I was reborn again.” Eventually, his girlfriend encouraged him to join a Street Fighter tournament, and BlindlWarriorSven was born.
How Did BlindWarriorSven Beat EternalPancake at Street Fighter 6?
Nine thousand one hundred eighty-two players showed up to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to participate in EVO 2023, a fighting game tournament where players can duke it out in Tekken, Marvel vs. Capcom, Guilty Gear, and most exciting of all this year, the newly-released Street Fighter 6. This is where BlindWarriorSven would make his stand, clad in a black blindfold.
In his first tournament match, BlindWarriorSven was put up against a player known as EternalPancake. Sven turned on some accessibility settings to help level the playing field, such as audio cues for character movement and muting the background music. Once he was ready to go, the battle began. As E. Honda, Sven decimated EternalPancake’s Luke in the first round, punishing him frequently and blocking his incoming strikes.
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In round two, EternalPancake played much safer and managed to eke out a victory on the defensive. The match was 1-1, and tensions were high. In the ensuing round, the two fought valiantly against each other. They were neck-and-neck, and the fight was down to the wire. Sven managed to break Pancake’s guard and hit him with a level three special, leaving Pancake one hit from death. With a decisive headbutt, the match was over, and Sven reigned victorious.
The crowd cheered as Sven relished in his victory. He and EternalPancake shared a hug in a display of sportsmanship as the crowd continued to sing his praises. Though Sven would only go on to finish in 2049th place overall at EVO 2023, his first victory was unforgettable. Sven’s story is an important reminder that accessibility matters in gaming, and developers should include disabled gamers with various accessibility options. If they don’t, we might not get another BlindWarriorSven.
How did you feel about this story? Did Sven inspire you? Let us know in the comments!
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