One of the biggest gaming announcements of CES was a major surprise: a new accessibility-focused PS5 controller kit from Sony, codenamed Project Leonardo, a kit that promises to make games easier to play for people with limited motor control.
In initial images, Project Leonardo is a set of circular gamepads lined with buttons and directional input methods, all of it customizable. Sony says the system will work “out of the box” with the PS5, allowing players to craft their ideal gamepad by mapping buttons, swapping out hardware bits and creating distinct profiles.
According to endgadget, Project Leonardo can be used on its own or paired with DualSense controllers — up to two Leonardos and one DualSense can be read as one gamepad by the PS5. This grants players flexibility and also allows other people to help control games.
The hardware includes four 3.5mm AUX ports to accommodate a variety of existing accessibility accessories and switches. The controller itself lies flat on a table or can be mounted on a tripod; it doesn’t need to be held. Sony partnered with a handful of organizations, including AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, while designing Project Leonardo.
With Project Leonardo, Sony is taking clear cues from Microsoft, which has been a leader in accessibility tech, particularly in the gaming space. Microsoft released the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018 and it had many of the same selling points as Sony’s new endeavor, but in a longer and flatter package. Microsoft has a new laboratory focused on building inclusive hardware and a five-year plan to improve the technology landscape for people with disabilities.
One of the major draws of the Xbox Adaptive Controller is its price, which was also designed to be accessible: $100. There’s no word on how much Project Leonardo will cost. Right now, Sony is only saying that the kit is “in development,” so we don’t know when it might be released publicly. But even at this early stage, Project Leonardo looks to offer an incredibly flexible set of inputs that could be useful to many.
With two of the biggest gaming companies creating first-party controllers designed specifically for accessibility, they’re opening up video gaming to a lot more people.
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