To celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day and recognize the strides made by the accessibility community and the games industry to make gaming more inclusive, Sony Interactive Entertainment shared new details and images of the Access controller for the PS5 console.
The company first revealed the accessory during CES this year as “Project Leonardo,” the controller for PS5 is an all-new, highly-customizable accessibility controller kit that they say is designed to help many players with disabilities play games more easily, more comfortably, and for longer periods.
What comes with the controller?
The Access controller will include a wide array of swappable buttons and stick caps so players can choose different layouts that work for them. Sony said that the controller was developed in collaboration with accessibility experts.
- Analog stick caps (standard, dome and ball stick cap)
- Button caps in different shapes and sizes, including:
- Pillow button caps
- Flat button caps
- Wide flat button cap (which covers two button sockets)
- Overhang button caps (which benefit players with smaller hands as they are positioned closer to the center)
- Curve button caps (which can be pushed if placed along the top or pulled if placed along the bottom of the controller)
- Swappable button cap tags for players to easily mark which inputs they map to each button
They mentioned that players can use the Access controller on flat surfaces, orient it 360 degrees, or easily secure the controller to an AMPS mount or tripod. Gamers can also adjust the distance of the analog stick from the controller depending on their preferences.
The controller will also be equipped with four 3.5mm AUX ports and players can integrate their own specialty switches, buttons, or analog sticks.
It comes with its own UI
It’s not just hardware, Sony says that the Access controller allows players to create personalized UI settings and configurations.
Here are some of the features:
Button mapping & control profiles. Players can select their preferred orientation for the Access controller, map different inputs to the various buttons, toggle buttons on or off, or even map two different inputs onto the same button. They can also create and store their favorite control profiles for different games or genres (such as “combat” or “driving”).
Controller pairing and analog stick adjustments. Up to two Access controllers and one DualSense (or DualSense Edge) wireless controller can be used together as a single virtual controller, allowing players to mix and match devices or play collaboratively with others. Similar to the DualSense Edge wireless controller, Sony says that players can also fine-tune the starting position and sensitivity of input such as adjusting deadzones (the distance your analog stick moves before it’s recognized in a game) and stick sensitivity.
Toggle mode. There are also features such as the toggle mode, which allows players to change any button to work like a caps lock key on a keyboard.
Players can enable toggle mode for any programmable input. As an example, if a game only allows you to sprint by holding down the left analog stick (L3), you can change that input to perform the action by enabling toggle mode.
You can watch the video here:
