Sony expands accessibility options with PS5, including ability to turn off haptics

PlayStation 5 will expand the number of accessibility options available to players with disabilities, Sony Interactive Entertainment has said.

The firm’s current-gen console PS4 already has many accessibility settings, including text to speech, the ability to invert colours, custom button assignments and more.

In a new blog post, Sony said PS5 would also offer a voice dictation feature to quickly input text without the use of a virtual keyboard, along with button assignments, closed captions and options to hear on-screen text, or have text messages spoken out loud to other party members.

These features will now support multiple languages on PS5 globally, Sony added, and it’s also adding support for colour correction which allows users to manually adjust colour.

In addition, PS5 players will be able to reduce or disable the force of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on the DualSense wireless controller.

As well as its work on accessibility features, SIE established ABLE@PlayStation for its employees earlier this year, which is described as “an accessibility and all abled inclusion-focused employee network.”

The firm said that ABLE was built to ensure accessibility and disability inclusion for its employees and the community. The employee network also focuses on emotional health awareness, supporting the fight against chronic illnesses.

The PS5 release date is November 12 in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, with the rest of the world getting the console on November 19.

However, the release date for PS5 accessories was recently brought forward to October 30 in the US, and to November 12 in the UK.