00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06 If you can't enjoy gaming, you're in some sense
00:09 being left out of the conversation.
00:13 Your friends are all playing.
00:15 And if you can't participate, you're
00:18 kind of socially disconnected from them.
00:22 Project Leonardo, with the help of the community,
00:24 with the help of accessibility experts,
00:26 has been realized today as the access controller.
00:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:51 It was incredibly important to us
00:52 to create an accessible controller,
00:54 as we were really aware of a lot of players in the world who
00:57 couldn't use PlayStation for a variety of different reasons.
01:00 In order to get around this, they themselves
01:02 had modified hardware, used third-party solutions
01:05 and other ways to be able to interact with it.
01:07 And it was very clear and obvious to us
01:08 that we needed to do something to sort this problem out.
01:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:13 The first step was to try to figure out what we didn't know.
01:18 Not being disabled myself, it was very important for me
01:20 that we try to learn and understand what
01:23 it was we needed to solve for.
01:25 To get this right, we really need to engage the community.
01:27 We really need to be talking to experts in this field
01:30 to advise and guide us on what challenges we need to solve.
01:33 How do we go about solving it?
01:35 We spent a lot of time consulting with experts,
01:38 such as from AbleGamers, from StackUp,
01:41 their military disabled veterans organization,
01:44 with special effect over the United Kingdom.
01:46 And they lent us a lot of insight
01:48 into key challenges that were preventing people
01:51 from interacting with a standard controller.
01:54 In consultation with the community,
01:56 in consultation with experts, we went
01:58 through a very extensive prototyping phase,
02:01 a much longer prototyping phase than we typically
02:03 have across three continents, gathering data.
02:07 There was certainly more team effort and collaboration
02:10 with the Access Controller more so than any other project
02:13 that I've worked on.
02:14 In our user testing lab in Tokyo, we have a viewing room.
02:17 And in that viewing room, there was always
02:19 a member from industrial design or interaction design
02:22 or the various other different departments
02:24 involved in the project.
02:25 Having this level of collaboration
02:27 with the user research was incredibly important.
02:29 It can't have been easy for the teams
02:31 to sit in that viewing room and watch their designs get
02:33 taken apart every day.
02:36 It was very important to hear what the users were saying.
02:40 But we also took great care in observing their actions.
02:44 We found a lot of solutions to why their actions didn't
02:48 work or why they couldn't operate.
02:53 We made a number of prototypes for the hardware.
02:57 We had the users test those prototypes,
03:00 and we listened to their feedback.
03:02 And then we would go back to the next prototype
03:05 and make improvements to it.
03:08 We did this over and over again.
03:12 Because it was a new concept, there was a lot of understanding
03:17 of the target user first.
03:20 My design partner, he's really good at creating
03:23 high-fidelity prototypes.
03:26 We made prototypes for the promotional movies.
03:30 We actually had them watch the promotional movies
03:33 before they were tested on the PS5.
03:36 We had them watch the information before they were tested.
03:39 We were preparing for the user testing
03:41 in a more realistic environment.
03:44 When we actually got the user test results,
03:47 our assumptions were wrong.
03:50 And so taking the raw feedback from the target users
03:55 really influenced how we think about accessibility
03:59 and the user experience around that.
04:02 We wanted the users to see what was easy to use,
04:07 and what was difficult to use,
04:10 and what was difficult to take off because of the fingers.
04:14 We got feedback on what was easy to use,
04:17 and we kept brushing up on that.
04:20 One of the greatest challenges with working on the Access Controller
04:24 was trying to synthesize results from such a ubiquitous device.
04:27 You have all of the different hardware buttons,
04:29 you have all of the different software options,
04:31 as well as the accessibility conditions
04:33 and the various games that people use.
04:35 They could be using it with a DualSense,
04:37 or they could be using it in pairs.
04:39 The amount of different configurations that were out there
04:42 was overwhelming at first.
04:45 I think there are a number of different types of design.
04:49 Customers can customize their own Access Controller
04:52 and have it made for them.
04:55 I don't think there is a right way to design.
04:59 What I focused on when I was designing
05:02 was to make sure that no matter what combination it is,
05:05 the beauty of the design is not lost.
05:07 I thought about designing a design that can deal with that combination.
05:13 We wanted to provide a unique Access Controller
05:17 that helped solve three key challenges.
05:19 You didn't have to hold it to use it,
05:21 it was much easier to press buttons,
05:23 they were all organized in a single plane,
05:26 and it had a lot of thumbstick repositionability and flexibility.
05:30 And we wanted to deliver all of that in a controller kit
05:33 that you could customize and adapt from day one, out of the box.
05:38 The controller is basically a circle with an arm on each side.
05:42 In the middle of the circle is the center button,
05:45 the largest button,
05:47 and there are eight buttons around it,
05:49 arranged in a radial pattern.
05:51 This controller can be set in any direction
05:54 that the customer wants.
05:56 Up, down, right, left, the customer can do whatever they want.
06:00 So no matter how you place it,
06:02 the button arrangement is designed in a circle
06:05 so that it can be operated in the same way.
06:07 By changing the features of the buttons,
06:11 the customer can freely place it in any direction
06:14 and have the most appropriate button arrangement.
06:18 We set the flat button as our standard,
06:23 and we prepared it.
06:25 But the most popular one for our users was the pillow button,
06:28 a pillow-shaped button cap.
06:32 It was the most comfortable to touch and use.
06:36 The stick cap is close to the height of the pillow.
06:40 So the user can operate it with a short distance of hand movement.
06:45 We got that kind of feedback from our users,
06:47 and they realized how important it was.
06:50 I think there are different styles that are easy to use.
06:55 Some people use it on the desk,
06:57 others use it on their knees,
06:59 and some use it on the wheelchair with an amp mount.
07:01 There are many different styles,
07:03 but we have prepared it as an option
07:06 that can be used more comfortably in our daily life.
07:10 One of the biggest challenges for the UI
07:16 was explaining this complicated product as simple as possible.
07:20 We started off with a lot of text.
07:22 No one wants to read text.
07:24 So we tried to use 3D animations as much as possible
07:29 so that the user can focus on the movement of the controller
07:34 rather than reading.
07:36 When we bought the controller and got it connected,
07:38 we used 3D animation to change the buttons,
07:42 adjust the length of the stick, and so on.
07:48 Not only that, but after the initial setup was done,
07:52 we set up the buttons to be customized
07:56 so that the user can adjust the length of the stick.
08:00 We also set up the stick sensitivity.
08:03 We also have the software and hardware
08:07 so that you can create your own controller from scratch.
08:11 We wanted the entire experience,
08:15 from the time you purchase it, to be accessible.
08:18 Going all the way to the packaging
08:20 that the unboxing experience is designed,
08:22 to be openable with one hand, for example.
08:25 We don't have this on our regular products,
08:27 but this time we made a round hole
08:30 to add a structure that allows you to hook your fingers.
08:33 We also have two round holes for the sticker cut.
08:38 We wanted to make it so that the user can open it
08:42 with either their right or left hand.
08:44 We've made it so that it can be opened with both hands.
08:47 The greatest challenge so far was getting our foot out the door
08:52 for this type of product.
08:55 Seeing players who had never used a PlayStation before
08:59 suddenly being able to actually use it via the Access Controller
09:02 and the subsequent joy on their face
09:05 was something I would certainly remember for a long time.
09:07 We're not done yet.
09:09 We're going to keep improving after the release.
09:13 We're looking forward to hearing the feedback from our users.
09:18 [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
09:21 [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
09:24 (((NO-SYSTEMS)))
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