Sony has announced that some PlayStation Store game listings will include accessibility tags on PS5 from this week. In a PlayStation Blog post by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s senior VP of platform experience, Hideaki Nishino confirmed that by pressing the triangle button on a listing players will be able to receive “detailed insight into accessibility features supported in the game.”
Nishino added: “These range from visual and audio accessibility settings to DualSense controller options, difficulty settings, and online communication features like chat transcription.” A video demonstration of the new system can be seen below.
There will be 50 accessibility tags for developers to use across six categories :
- Visual accessibility features, such as clear text, large text, colour 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 the 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.
The tags, which will start to roll out this week will be available on listings for several PlayStation Studios games at launch including 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.
More tags will be added to the store over time and Sony has said they are working with third parties to ensure as many games as possible will include the new accessibility tags. Nishino said: “They’re [the tags] the latest step in our journey to make gaming more accessible, alongside inclusively-designed games from PlayStation Studios and upcoming products like Project Leonardo.”
What future accessibility tags or features would you like to see in future on the PlayStation Store? Sound off in the comments below!
