“Video games are for everyone,” Alvin Daniel says as he shows me what the new PlayStation Access Controller looks like. And he continues: “there should be no cases when someone cannot play because of a disability.” Alvin Daniel is it Senior Technical Program Manager from Sony Interactive Entertainment and today, December 6, the project he and his team have been working on since 2018 hits stores.
The Access Controller is a new controller for the PlayStation 5 designed to allow people with disabilities to play video games. This is a short summary. It is a circular structure with nine buttons, a flat base and joystick fully adjustable. “It’s important that the base is flat because many people find it difficult to hold the controller, and we also added screw holes so it can be mounted on a wheelchair, table or tripod,” he says. Alvin Daniel in this exclusive interview with Vanguard.
The design may sound strange, but when I asked him about it, he replied quickly and directly: “Imagine out of nowhere I asked you to design an affordable controller, what shape would it be?” The development period for this controller took much longer than usual. Daniel’s team started working on it in 2018, and during those five years they worked with associations and accessibility experts to build the product.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the community reacts to this, I’m sure they’ll give us some interesting insights to help us improve,” says Alvin Daniel. The access controller was designed with three main pillars in mind: that it can lie on a flat surface, that the buttons are large and customizable, and that joystick can be adjusted. For people with disabilities, these three points create the greatest difficulties when using the remote control.
We needed to create a device to communicate with the console in an accessible way
Image of Alvin Daniel, SIE Senior Program Technical Manager, holding an access controller
The field of accessibility has improved significantly in recent years. A few months ago, we told you about a system that allows blind people to play racing games. But, as Alvin Daniel says, “accessibility can be in video games, that’s the easiest thing, or it can be implemented on a console through an on-screen narrator, for example. We needed to create a device that would allow us to communicate with software and console in an affordable way.”
Everything in the access controller is configurable. When you connect to the PS5 for the first time, a tutorial of sorts begins, serving to set up the controller to your liking. Every button, sensitivity and position, everything can be changed. In addition, the controller also has a universal 3.5 mm jack, compatible with third-party devices. Finally, the user can connect multiple access controllers to their PS5 or use them in conjunction with DualSense.
The Access Controller is compatible with third-party devices, but is exclusive to the PS5
An exploded view of the access controller with all its parts
“It only works on the PlayStation 5 and was designed exclusively for the PS5,” says Alvin.
– Maybe in the future it will work on computers as well?
– We cannot promise anything, but, as I said, we always listen to the players’ comments.
The Access Controller arrives today on Sony’s console with an MSRP of €89.99. For many users, this should change the way they play video games. As we said at the beginning of the article, video games are available (or should be) for everyone, and it is important not to forget that.
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