The PS5 DualSense controller's rumbling haptic feedback and adaptive triggers are neat perks that many fans will likely enjoy (if and when they eventually get the console). That being said, we're ecstatic that you'll be able to turn them off.
I'll admit that it's cool that buttons may lock down when your character couldn't perform the task at hand (as will be the case in Deathloop), and that the controller can somehow imitate spider-sense in Miles Morales: Spider-Man. Buttons adding resistance as your player tires in NBA 2K21? Also pretty neat. But that's just my opinion, man, as The Dude said in The Big Lebowski.
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These features are not what's best for every single gamer, though, especially those who are disabled. Hence, we're happy to note that a Sony Interactive Entertainment blog post entitled "Empowering All Abilities of Gamers" revealed that "PS5 players will be able to reduce or disable the force of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on the DualSense wireless controller."
As Laura Kate Dale of Syfy Fangrrls put it, this news puts one of the "biggest PS5 hardware accessibility [concerns] to bed."
Amazing news. According to the Dualsense manual, Haptic Feedback AND Resistive Triggers on PS5 CAN be switched off on a system level.This is great news. My biggest PS5 hardware accessibility concern can be put to bed. https://t.co/NP7Bp5l28zOctober 29, 2020
The SIE post also explained a great accessibility feature that will likely appeal to an even wider array of PS5 owners:
"PlayStation 5 will offer a voice dictation feature to quickly input text without the use of a virtual keyboard. Simply speak the words and they’ll appear on-screen. Screen Reader provides blind and low vision users with options to hear on-screen text, while deaf and hard of hearing users can type text messages, which will be spoken out loud to other party members."
On top of that, the PS5 will both inherit "Accessibility Settings for Button Assignments and Closed Captions" from the PS4, plus gain color correction options to customize games to your visual preferences.
While these features may not mean a lot to some gamers, they mean the world to those whose abilities have often been limited by the physical and visual nature of video games.
Sony isn't the only company doing right by those with different needs. Microsoft's addition of tactile markers to the back of the Xbox Series X to make it easier for visually impaired gamers, and the company's Xbox Adaptive Controller were both rightly heralded as major steps forward in accessibility.
