To build a PS5 controller for anyone, Sony had to reinvent the wheel

When Sony took the stage at CES 2023, PlayStation fans didn’t know what to expect. The company had a history of using the tech expo to showcase new gaming hardware, like the PlayStation VR2, but its plans for the show aren’t ones that tend to leak beforehand. Left in the dark, eager PlayStation fans tuned in to the CES live broadcast to see what the future of PlayStation might hold.

But nobody expected a UFO to touch down on stage.

Rather than rolling a new console, Sony used its platform to put a spotlight on accessibility with an unusual controller. It showed off a round disc covered in panels that almost made it look like a white steel drum. It was dubbed Project Leonardo at the time, and it would give players with specific needs a new and highly customizable tool that could make playing on PS5 more possible. The project would officially launch a year later as the PlayStation Access Controller, allowing more players than ever to enjoy games like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

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That was no easy task. The road to the Access Controller’s launch in December 2023 was filled with research and iteration as Sony worked to solve a difficult challenge: How do you create a device that suits several different accessibility needs at once? That would require throwing the idea of traditional controller design out the window and truly thinking about how to reshape the future.

No one-size-fits-all solution

PlayStation’s commitment to accessibility goes back a long time, but it hit a key moment in 2016. That’s when the publisher released Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End complete with a revolutionary suite of accessibility options. According to a tweet from developer Naughty Dog in 2021 celebrating the game’s fifth anniversary, those options had been used by 9.5