As stated in the blog post, gamers browsing the PS Store will be able to press the “Triangle” button on a selected game to view all of the Accessibility Tags that apply to it. In the words of Hideaki Nishino, these “allow game developers to provide detailed insight on accessibility features supported in their games”, as well as “empower [the player] to personalize [their] PS5 gaming experience to [their] individual gameplay needs”.
Discover games with accessible features that suit your gameplay needs. Accessibility Tags roll out this week on PS Store for PS5. Full details: https://t.co/iZpCipXGQe pic.twitter.com/qF2fuTxLLf
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 3, 2023
There will be more than 50 Accessibility Tags in total, allowing for precise details as to exactly which options are available to players once they pick up and play each game. These include:
- Visual accessibility features, such as clear text, large text, color alternatives, audio cues and directional audio indicators.
- Audio features, such as volume controls, mono audio, screen reader and visual cue alternatives.
- Subtitle and caption options, including subtitle size, clear captions, and large captions.
- Control options, including button remapping, thumbstick sensitivity, and ability to play without button holds, rapid button presses or motion control.
- Gameplay options, such as difficulty settings, skippable puzzles, simplified quick time events, and game speed.
- Online communication options, such as text or voice chat transcription and ping communication.
As this new feature starts to roll out this week, only a select handful of games will receive the tags initially, with others set to receive them in the near future as this feature becomes standard. The games Sony has officially announced to be a part of this first stage of roll-outs are: Days Gone, Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, God of War, God of War Ragnarök, Gran Turismo 7, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Returnal.
With their desire to make all games more accessible for all – as well as controllers, with the announcement of their fully-customisable Project Leonardo controller – this was an inevitable next step. And a welcome one, as without extensive research in the past, it was impossible to tell what accessibility options a game offered before buying it. And there’s nothing worse than buying a game you cannot play. Here’s hoping this new feature becomes an industry standard and more and more gamers get to play the games they enjoy.
