At CES 2023, Sony revealed a new controller: Project Leonardo. This is a customisable controller kit designed with accessibility in mind, allowing more players who cannot operate a standard controller to still play games in their own way.
Project Leonardo, still a codename for now, was developed with contributions from AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, leading organisations in the accessibility field.
The controller is flat, with at least eight configurable buttons and one analog stick. The analog stick distance from the controller is adjustable, where the “north” of said stick can also be adjusted, which means the one Project Leonardo controller can be the right or left analog stick- or even placed to the furthest front or back. The stick itself can be swapped to a smaller pad.
The buttons on the controller itself can be customised with different icons and button shapes (there’s a longer piece that extends to cover two buttons). Button mapping can be customised on the PS5 itself, including button macros where one button does two functions (like pressing L2+R2 simultaneously).
There are also four 3.5mm AUX ports to which you can connect any speciality switches, buttons or analog sticks.
The Project Leonardo controller can be used on its own, paired with a DualSense controller, paired with another Project Leonardo controller, or have two Project Leonardo and a DualSense work pair together as one virtual controller. This opens up opportunities to play collaboratively with others.
Xbox previously released the Xbox Adaptive Controller, opening up more opportunities for many gamers to play games in the way they can. It’s good to see PlayStation doing the same in their camp with this new controller.
No pricing or launch window has been announced yet.
Source: PlayStation Blog