Sony announces Project Leonardo to improve accessibility on PS5 consoles

Sony recently delivered the CES 2023 presentation, where it addressed how it will attend to the gaming needs of gamers with physical handicaps. While some games have accessibility options, the hardware components to meet these requirements are lacking. Enter Project Leonardo, presenting a new solution.

In one of the latest blog posts, Sony details how the new controller kit works. It mimics the PS5 controller with colors and schemes, but it’s more effective for gamers with physical handicaps. There’s a joystick, and the buttons are on a circular pad. The best part is that you can configure the buttons to match your preferred setup for any compatible game.

You can also set three profiles, which lets you switch between them at any time. From the look of the images, it also looks like you decide where you want the buttons to be. Of course, you’ll probably need to establish the button configuration on the PS5’s software, so it knows how to allocate them. 

Project Leonardo has various face and trigger buttons. You can easily move the joystick anywhere in relation to the gamepad, giving you more comfort and playability options. If you still want to use your dual sense controller, you’ll be able to add this new controller kit to it. Also, you can just use the accessibility controller without integration with the PS5 controller.

There are audio ports for you to connect headphones or any other audio kits. They’re in a convenient position for you to comfortably play any of your PS5 games without the cables being annoying. Still, I suppose it would be better if you have Bluetooth earphones to avoid the use of any wires.

While Sony hasn’t indicated a release date for Project Leonardo as yet, I’m keen to see if handicapped gamers will enjoy the new controller. It looks pretty good, and I only hope that it’s easy and comfortable to use.