Sony announces new accessible PS5 controller

Sony has announced an expandable new controller for the PS5 that’s designed to help players with disabilities play games more easily.

Sony has announced a brand-new controller for the PlayStation 5 that is designed from the ground up to help players with disabilities play games more easily, or play games at all.

The new controller, codenamed “Leonardo”, features a disc-shaped design with eight separate paddles, each of which can be programmed to act as a number of functions normally accessible on a PS5 DualSense controller.

Sony went into great detail about Project Leonardo on the official PlayStation blog, detailing just how customisable the controller is and what it can be used for. The company says that each paddle on the controller can be programmed to act as a button, and that multiple functions can be mapped onto one button, like pressing R2 and L2 at the same time.

Project Leonardo is also highly expandable, with four 3.5mm auxiliary ports which players can use to plug in speciality switches, buttons, or analog sticks for use with the controller. The controller will reportedly work with most third-party accessories that use the 3.5mm connector, which is an industry standard protocol for accessibility devices.

Sony says that the controller is designed to be laid flat, so players don’t have to hold it and it can be set down on a tabletop or wheelchair tray. It’s also compatible with AMPS mounts and tripods, which is an accessibility industry standard for mounting accessibility equipment.

Sony Interactive’s So Morimoto, one of the designers behind the project, said that the controller had been designed in conjunction with accessibility experts and organisations like AbleGamers, SpecialEffect, and Stack Up. The idea behind the controller is to allow players who might not be able to play games easily, or at all, to have a better time with PlayStation 5 games.

“Because players can customize Project Leonardo according to their needs, there is no one ‘right’ form factor,” Morimoto said, “We want to empower them to create their own configurations. I am excited that the design will be completed through collaboration with players rather than presenting them with a single form factor”.

The controller draws clear parallels to Microsoft’s own accessible controller, the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which is compatible with the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, and Windows 10 and 11 PCs. The Xbox Adaptive Controller is less useful out of the box, with only a few buttons and a directional pad, but is considerably more expandable than Sony’s controller, with over 10 different ports for external accessories.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller is highly expandable and supports a wide range of external accessories and switches. Picture: Microsoft

It comes at a time where the games industry has been pushing to make its games more accessible to players. Sony recently enlisted the help of a blind gamer to help make God of War more accessible to players with vision problems.

Ubisoft also made an effort to ensure that the latest Just Dance game was the most accessible yet, with a host of accessibility options available to players including a list of songs that can be completed while seated.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.