A date, a price and a new name for Sony’s adaptive controller

Announced in January 2023, the Project Leonardo controller has just changed its name. Officially called Access, it is intended to be hyper-adaptive, so that people with disabilities can also indulge in the joys of video game pleasures.

Since its announcement at CES, the characteristics have not changed much and we are still faced with a hyper-customizable peripheral for the PlayStation 5 console; the box contains no less than 19 caps of different shapes and 23 labels to configure your controller as comfortably as possible. Of course, everyone can also choose the shape of the analog stick and opt for a standard cap or a little wider and rounded, or even for a ball, similar to what can be found on arcade sticks. And while the Access controller sits perfectly flat, it also benefits from the AMPS standard,”a standard mounting screw pattern for attaching devices to equipment, including accessibility“, according to the PlayStation Blog.

The Access controller also has four 3.5 mm AUX ports to connect various classic accessories (such as a headset, but also for a microphone, pedalboard, etc.) as well as other less common and perhaps more personalized peripherals, that some people with very specific disabilities might need.

To further extend the possibilities of the Access controller, you can combine two of them, in order to recreate a classic controller with two sticks. If that was not enough and to prepare for any eventuality, it is possible to associate this duo with an additional DualSense.

This hardware adaptability is accompanied by configuration software that is reminiscent of that of the DualSense Edge. However, it seems much more dense, and it will probably take long hours of testing and various scenarios to arrive at the best possible configuration.

A competitor to the Xbox Adaptive Controller?

It took time for Sony to take the problem of accessibility head-on, much more than for Microsoft in any case. As early as 2018, the Richmond firm offered the Xbox Adaptive Controller pad, still marketed elsewhere, for its Xbox consoles. Coincidentally (or not), the PS5 Access controller will be available from December 6, at the same price of €89.99. We are still waiting for Nintendo’s proposal concerning accessibility to the greatest number of its game consoles…