Video games have had one of the largest cultural impacts of anything invented in the last hundred years, going from a pretty niche hobby to some form of gaming system being in nearly every home incredibly fast. While games may seem available to everyone regardless of how advanced their systems may be, a lot of players might not realize just how high the barrier of entry to playing a game might be for people with disabilities. Because of this, many game developers and tech companies have been working on ways to make games more accessible for players who want to enjoy games, but are barred by physical disabilities.
Doing their part to help more players play, Sony has just announced Project Leonardo, the company’s take on a more accessible controller for players with disabilities. The new controller was announced on the Playstation Blog, where they go into further detail about the exciting technology’s use.
The controller, which was designed by Sony with input by organizations such as AbleGamers, SpecialEffect, and Stack Up, was created by experts in video game accessibility to create a comfortable experience for those who can’t use the default Playstation 5 controller.
The controller promises to be highly customizable, allowing players to swap out buttons and change the shape of the symmetrical controller to create a unique and comfortable play experience.
This exciting new control system along with the incredible accessibility options in games like God of War: Ragnarok (which won an award at this year’s Game Awards for its accessibility features), many games are becoming far more available to a whole new audience of players.
While we still don’t know when Project Leonardo is going to be available for purchase, we can be sure from the images provided that expanded testing is underway and players won’t have to wait long to get their very own Leonardo controller.
Comments