Sony is Adding Accessibility Tags to the PlayStation Store

Soon players will be able to see all of the accessibility options a game offers before they purchase it through the PlayStation Store’s new Accessibility Tags features. Sony has announced that these new tags will be rolled out across its library of PS5 games in the coming days and weeks. This is the latest step the company has taken to make games accessible to all.

Sony is Adding Accessibility Tags to the PlayStation StoreAs part of the company’s continued effort to provide detailed accessibility options and allow all gamers to play their games, regardless of disability, Sony has announced the rollout of Accessibility Tags on the games in its official PlayStation Store. In a blog post, Hideaki Nishino, the Senior Vice President of Platform Experience, announced the feature and gave some in-depth details regarding how they work and which games will be supported. These include the likes of God of War Ragnarök, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and more.

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”.

 

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.

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