Sony's radical Access controller for PlayStation is designed for the differently-abled. Users can customize the layout and choose different button styles to better suit their needs.
Creating it required the collaboration of many: Industrial designers, UX designers, hardware engineers, art directors, and most importantly, test users in the target market to provide much-needed input. Early on in the process, "when we actually got the user test results," says Sony UX Designer Yurika Mulase, "our assumptions were wrong. And so taking the raw feedback from the target users really influenced how we think about accessibility and the user experience around that."
"Since development began five years ago, we evolved the Access controller's design through half a dozen design concepts and prototypes, engaging in countless insightful discussions with accessibility experts and community playtesters with disabilities. Our goal was to create an innovative design that's adaptable to the needs of a wide array of players."
Here are the controller's features, as well as a visual demonstration of how users can configure them:
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Sony's also put together a video featuring a variety of designers and engineers explaining the Access controller's design story:
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The Access controller launches on December 6th.
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Microsoft's response to the same needs was released in 2018, inspired by controllers that had been modified by the community groups. Ben Heck, who has been featured on Core77, created a one-handed game controller in 2010.