PlayStation 5 is gaining a special controller for people with disabilities

The proportion of people with disabilities is highly represented in society. According to the World Health Organization, this group represents about 16% of the world’s population.

It was with this consumer audience in mind Video game I started to move to adapt devices and systems, making them more accessible. The latest news, in this case, concerns Sony.

The company has decided to launch the Access Controller for PlayStation 5, which is essentially a special controller designed for People with Disabilities (PwD).

Nine buttons

Image of the control released by Sony – Photo: Sony/Reproduction

With nine buttons and a cross-shaped directional pad, Sony It’s attracting a lot of attention and directly competing with the control Microsoft created for the Xbox, called the Adaptive Controller.

The PS5 is designed to accept expansions. It has four 3.5mm inputs, pedals, and external jacks. However, it does not need it to work, as its default configuration is sufficient and effective.

Sony’s affordable console project began in 2018 and has mobilized about 100 dedicated engineers in Japan and the United States. we. During this process, many tests were performed on people with disabilities.

The process of creation

During the construction process, technicians worked hard to try to design a model that would meet all possible shortcomings.

At first, they thought of the work only in context Cerebral PalsyBut they soon realized that this would not be ideal.

Each deficiency has specific differences, and the testing phase demonstrated this well. “There were players who had good dexterity in their fingers and were able to use the traditional DualSense, while others were unable to close their hands, for example,” explains engineer Alvin Daniel, project manager.

Given this, the team decided to focus on three broad strategies:

• The control is flat, and doesn’t need to be gripped;

• It has large, widely spaced buds.

• The layout is customizable, meaning the buttons can be highlighted and their position changed.

details

Before using Access, you need to remap the buttons and functions on the regular DualSense controller to the corresponding keys.

The modification can be made in the PlayStation 5 menu itself. This means that game developers do not need to implement controller support. It is automatically compatible with games.

The new controller from Sony was launched last Wednesday (6) and costs R $ 599.90.