Yesterday, Sony finally unveiled one part of the official Playstation 5 console in the form of the Playstation 5 controller. Now, Sony is asking for disabled gamers to provide them with feedback for the controller in order to widen its use and collection information to improve on the controller before release.
The new controller is a bit of a departure from previous Playstation controllers, being mainly white instead of mainly black and not having colored buttons this time around. The controller promises haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to increase your sense of immersion in gaming.
However, various disabled gamers have brought up how the controller will be able to benefit them. Some of these concerns, brought to Mike Friend, Sony’s accessibility specialist, included the possibility of regulating haptic feedback, making the rear buttons easier to use, and coloring the face-buttons.
Even though the Playstation 5 has had its specs revealed and the Playstation 5 controller is now out in the public eye, it’s still too early to tell if Playstation will take these requests to heart and make the requested changes.
The reaction to the Playstation controller is in stark contrast to Microsoft, which several years ago created the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which allows physically disabled gamers to be able to customize their experiences so that they can play their own way on a controller that suits their needs.
Whether Playstation is making their own version or not remains to be seen, and probably won’t be seen until later this year when the console comes closer to coming out. While that’s still almost eight months away, so far in terms of power and accessibility Microsoft appears to be pulling ahead.
If you’re a disabled person or want the Playstation 5 controller to be as accessible as possible to disabled people in general, you can find the post from Mike Friend asking for feedback here.
