Sony has announced today the release date and price of their accessibility controller coming to the PlayStation 5. The PlayStation 5 Access controller will release December 6th, with pre-orders beginning Friday July 21st. Pricing for the controller will cost $89.99 USD /£79.99.
The announcement for the product’s release came from Isabelle Tomatis, Vice President of Brand, Hardware and Peripherals at Sony Interactive Entertainment. Tomatis writes, “For the past five years, we’ve been on a journey with accessibility organizations and experts to create a versatile controller kit that enables gamers with disabilities to play more comfortably and for longer periods, empowering more players to share in the joy of gaming.”
Included in the PlayStation Blog post for the announcement came product specifications and visual schematics of the included buttons in the packaging. There will be a total of 19 button caps, with multiple variations such as 8 pillow button caps, 4 flat button caps and 2 overhang button caps respectively. There’s also a total of 23 button cap tags that can be snapped on and off any of the button caps. The tags help indicate what input a player is mapping for each button.
Back in May, PlayStation presented a 7-minute long video going through the development of the Access controller, along with a guided walkthrough of how the controller will be customized from the settings menu. The highly customizable controller will give players of all abilities the benefits to play as they wish.
The past few years have seen numerous developers prioritizing accessibility options within their games. Developers like Naughty Dog and Ubisoft have heralded their games for providing players of all abilities, with specific settings that can be fine-tuned for the best gaming experience. Visual, audial, and even haptic feedback on supported controllers such as the DualSense, has given anyone the ability to best experience a game.
Sony has also invested more into the hardware of their PlayStation 5 accessories so far than they did with the PlayStation 4. Before announcing the Access controller, Sony released the PlayStation DualSense Edge, a pricer “pro” version of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. Touted as a controller for players who seek custom button mapping, precision joy con control, and improved input sensitivity, the controller released at a steep price of $200. The DualSense Edge also came with an exclusive clamshell carrying case, lockable charger cable, and extra buttons, which added to its high price. Sony has also invested in swappable console covers, including an exclusive LeBron James limited edition cover and controller apart of their PlayStation Playmaker program.
Pre-orders for the Access controller begin July 21st at 10 am local time. Players can pre-order directly from the PlayStation Store, and other retailers, though Sony hasn’t indicated which specifically.