Sony Reveals Project Leonardo: New Accessory for PlayStation 5 for Abled Users Specially

 

Project Leonardo, Sony's most recent innovation in PlayStation 5 technology aimed at gamers with disabilities, has just been unveiled. Project Leonardo is a highly customizable controller kit created with key contributions from accessibility experts, community members, and game developers. It will make it easier and more comfortable for gamers with disabilities to play games for longer periods of time.

According to the PlayStation Blog, "We've designed a highly configurable controller that works in tandem with many third-party accessibility accessories and integrates with the PS5 console to open up new ways of gaming" after speaking with accessibility experts and incredible organizations like AbleGamers, SpecialEffect, and Stack Up. It was designed to help players with limited motor control who have trouble holding a controller for long periods of time, accurately pressing small groups of buttons or triggers, or positioning their thumbs and fingers on a standard controller in the best possible way.

Project Leonardo is PlayStation 5’s Latest Accessory

Players will be able to swap out components such as stick cabs and buttons in a variety of shapes and sizes for the controller, which is currently codenamed "Project Leonardo." The controller is a highly customizable kit. Games like Santa Monica Studio's God of War Ragnarok and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part I and II include more accessibility features than ever before, making accessibility one of the most important goals for PlayStation Studios and SIE.

It would appear that Project Leonardo and other hardware with controllers and accessories will also benefit from PlayStation's accessibility efforts. In terms of accessibility, there are still a lot of good options from third parties; however, it is quite refreshing to see the manufacturer of the console itself release a first-party accessory for gamers with disabilities.

Through four 3.5 mm AUX ports, the controller can connect a variety of accessibility accessories and switches from third parties. Users will be able to incorporate analog sticks, specialty switches, and buttons into the controller as a result of this. The blog post states that the external accessories can be dynamically connected or disconnected, and that each one can be set to behave like any other button.

“Based on the same design concept, Project Leonardo is a member of the PS5 product family. According to So Morimoto, Designer, SIE, "We were inspired by the idea of all players enjoying the PlayStation world together." With the help of accessibility experts, our team put more than a dozen designs through their paces in search of strategies that would assist in addressing key obstacles to efficient controller use. We finally settled on a "split controller" that can be used without being held, allows for near-free-form left/right thumbstick repositioning, and has very flexible button and stick cap swapping.

How SIE decides to price this controller and when it will be available in markets like India will be interesting to watch.