Vice President, Brand, Hardware and Peripherals, SIE, Isabelle Tomatis, posted information about PlayStation’s highly customizable accessibility controller kit available to preorder starting on July 21. From the PlayStation blog:
For the past five years, we’ve been on a journey with accessibility organizations and experts to create a versatile controller kit that enables games with disabilities to play more comfortably and for longer periods, empowering more players to share in the joy of gaming. Today, I’m thrilled to announce that Access controller for PS5 will be available globally on December 6, with preorders kicking off on Friday, July 21.
Available for a suggested retail price of $89.99 USD / $119.99 CAD / ¥12,980 JPY/€89.99/£79.99 (MSRP), the Access controller lets you customize your layout with different button and stick caps in various shapes and designs, operate the controller from any 360° orientation, and connect third-party accessibility accessories using its four industry-standard 3.5mm expansion ports.
On your PS5 console, there are many settings for the Access controller that you can configure to meet your needs. You can map buttons to create up to 30 control profiles, adjust stick settings, toggle commands on/off, or disable buttons altogether to stop accidentally pressing. You can even pair up to two Access controllers and one DualSense wireless controller together and use them collaboratively.
Preorders kick off on July 21
Starting Friday, July 21 at 10am local time, players in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Portugal will be able to preorder the Access controller directly from PlayStation through direct.playstation.com as well as from select retailers. Preorders will also be available through select retailers in other global markets on the same day. The Access controller will launch globally on December 6.
Gizmodo reported that the fully customizable “Access” controller will cost $90, is AMPS mount compatible, and can include additional pluggable buttons and joysticks.
According to Gizmodo, Sony’s gaming arm has long been fascinated by shapes. The face that everybody else labeled their buttons with “A” or “B” meant nothing to the legacy tech brand, as the first PlayStation controller included “X” or “O” buttons instead. Now, the gaming company finally has a release date and price for one of the most intriguing designs out there for a controller – a large, flat circle with swappable keys engineered to be one of the most accessible interfaces on the console market.
Gizmodo also reported that the Access controller is meant to be an accessibility-first option for gamers who have long struggled with your average twin-stick control design. This new device is meant to be truly customizable, with eight slots that can fit 19 different key caps that come in the box.
Many of the caps are designed for specific accessible use, such as the wide flat button caps and the other overhanging button caps. One cap that comes with the controller, for example, can cover up two button sockets. You can mix and match different tags to mark the inputs based on your in-game controller mapping.
Personally, as a gamer who has a neurological issue that can cause my hands to hurt while playing a video game on console, I think PlayStation’s Access controller is a good idea. The customizable controller could give other gamers like me the ability to play longer.