Digital Trends
When Sony took the microscope stage atCES 2023 , PlayStation fans did n’t know what to expect . The fellowship had a account of using the technical school exhibition to showcase novel gaming ironware , like the PlayStation VR2 , but its plans for the show are n’t ones that incline to leak beforehand . Left in the dark , eager PlayStation fan tuned in to the CES live program to see what the future of PlayStation might go for .
But nobody expected a UFO to touch down on stage .
Rather than rolling a raw console table , Sony used its political program to put a limelight on handiness with an strange controller . It establish off a pear-shaped disk covered in panels that almost made it look like a white sword drum . It was dubbedProject Leonardoat the time , and it would give players with specific motivation a young and highly customizable tool that could make playing on PS5 more possible . The project would officially set in motion a year afterward as the PlayStation Access Controller , allowing more players than ever to enjoy games likeGod of War RagnarokandMarvel ’s Spider - Man 2 .
That was no easy task . The road to theAccess Controller ’s launchin December 2023 was filled with enquiry and iteration as Sony worked to solve a unmanageable challenge : How do you create a machine that suit several unlike approachability require at once ? That would require throwing the idea of traditional comptroller plan out the windowpane and truly thinking about how to remold the future .
No one-size-fits-all solution
PlayStation ’s commitment to accessibility goes back a long meter , but it hit a key mo in 2016 . That ’s when the publishing firm releasedUncharted 4 : A Thief ’s Endcomplete with a revolutionary suite of accessibility options . According to a tweet from developer Naughty Dog in 2021 celebrate the game ’s 5th day of remembrance , those options had beenused by 9.5 million playersat the time . That stat makes it clear there was a hunger for approachable games on PlayStation — and Sony ’s own market inquiry concur . In September 2018 , Sony would set out to design a controller that could benefit player with a broad ambit of disablement .
really draw that off would be a challenge . The needs of players with disabilities can vary wildly , making the idea of a one - machine solution next to unacceptable . For John Zarganis , managing director of product operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment , the first stride was estimate out some core barricade that a piece of assistive tech could help absent .
“ We understand that the range of availability needs is large-minded and there is no ‘ one size fits all ’ solution , ” Zarganis tell Digital Trends in an email consultation . “ Our approach focused on key usual challenge people with many types of disablement face when using a traditional controller . We describe three coarse challenges that we wanted to speak : 1 ) Physically holding the comptroller ; 2 ) Accurately interacting with the buttons that are traditionally small and closely constellate ; and 3 ) Effectively engaging with the thumb sticks and/or the front articulatio humeri clitoris . ”
With those issues in mind , the team set out to make a controller with an alternative form factor that could solve those annoyance points . The concluding result would need to be customizable and work in a variety of orientations , letting users tailor it to their specific needs . There was just one question : What would a comptroller like that even look like ? There were plenty of examples of accessibility tools out there , likeXbox ’s Adaptive Controller , but PlayStation knew that it postulate to introduce to make it good .
“ We challenged our engineering and blueprint squad to produce a diversity of alternative shape factor designs to address those three common challenge , ” Zarganis says . “ Four different concept surfaced from these endeavour : A gravid shell tabletop accountant ; a lap board or keyboard expressive style layout , and two different split controller excogitation concepts . The orotund , disunited controller design cursorily emerged as a common theme and became our preferred solution to provide the most flexibility for users . ”
And so , the Access Controller ’s UFO - corresponding shape was hold . The final design is a rotund pad ring by blanched panel that doubly as large buttons . That setup is fully customizable , as player can remap what each panel does when pressed and even place swappable button label on them . Even the panels themselves can be swapped out with unlike sizes and form . A pear-shaped , dark joystick stick out out from one side , which can also be customized with spliff cap . Users can even plug two Access controller into one another , or anyPS5 DualSense modeling , to further tailor-make their experience .
It may not look like any controller you ’ve see before , but that ’s the stop . When a standard gamepad becomes a barrier for entree , the wheel begs for reinvention .
Collaboration is key
Getting the right figure was only one piece of the equation . True accessibility want a deep attention to particular that goes far beyond the Earth’s surface . It ’s not just enough to add a few options into a game ’s setting menu , for instance . That needs to be paired with approachable game design too . The Access Controller team would find that it would need some spacious collaboration to check that its accountant was n’t just a in effect idea in theory , but something that could actually officiate alongsidePlayStation ’s games .
“ Our PlayStation Studios partners were vastly helpful in form the excogitation of the Access controller , ” Zarganis pronounce . “ It was a great opportunity to create a controller that would complement the groovy work and handiness features the studios were already incorporate into their games . We bring with an array of secret plan studio , including Santa Monica Studio , Insomniac Games , Naughty Dog , Bend Studio , Media Molecule , and Guerrilla . All the team provided very useful feedback in terms of feature article they wanted to see included . ”
Collaboration like this was key to fix certain the project reached its full voltage . But the most crucial part of the project would be ferment nearly with experts in the handiness blank space to fine-tune the controller . PlayStation would link up with organisation likeAbleGamersandSpecialEffect , who would provide valuable insight into the needs of players with disabilities and share the kind of custom setup player practice .
“ They consistently helped us focus our efforts away from seek to solve for specific weather condition , and more toward judge to solve for specific deterrent that might preclude users from in effect interacting with the standard controller , ” Zarganis say .
That philosophy would avail PlayStation fill some holes in its design . While the squad want to create a controller that was customizable enough for many players to use , the reality is that some users would still want to modify it with their own extraneous options . Zarganis says that moral force was the most intriguing part of settle the restrainer .
“ Expert steering encouraged us to recognize that the Access comptroller was going to be part of a larger ecosystem of accessibility resolution , ” Zarganis stresses . “ Our restrainer should be design for as much compatibility as possible with resolution such as wheelchair mounts , third - party switches and joysticks to take advantage of the familiar solutions that may already be in a substance abuser ’s home surroundings . It was a hard balance in that we want to make the Access controller compatible with these solution , but also promiscuous to set up , configure and take off playing justly away . Our expert consultants ’ guidance aid us meet on what we feel is an easy to configure , compatible control that allow the user to quickly come their own solvent to play their honorable . ”
“ Accessibility is an ongoing missionary work … ”
Feedback like this would only amend the Access Controller . Notably , it would lead to features like its 3.5 mm expanding upon ports , which would allow users to hook the Access Controller up to outside devices as ask . Up to four extra devices can be plugged into a single Access Controller , and that number doubles if using a two - controller setup . That stratum of flexibility is what makes the controller such an important step forward for adaptive gaming tech .
There ’s a sense that PlayStation is still just getting started , too . Zarganis confirm that the company is confide to accessibility and do certain its secret plan can be enjoyed by as many players as possible going forward . The Access Controller feels like a primal first footmark , just asUncharted 4was when it came to in - plot options . PlayStation has n’t permit up from there on the software system side , so perhaps the Access Controller is only the beginning on the hardware side .
“ We trust passionately in break down as many barrier to play as possible for our gaming community , ” Zarganis says . “ availableness is an ongoing mission that ’s important to all of us and the gambling manufacture as a whole . ”
