The Case For and Against PlayStation Access Controller Layout Presets

Around four months ago, in early December 2023, PlayStation officially released the Access Controller, an accessibility focused input device featuring a circular design, customisable buttons around the outer edge, a large analogue stick, and input ports for external accessibility switches and buttons.

I first got to go hands on with the device at a preview event back in September 2023, and had a chance to interview Alvin Daniel, senior technical program manager for the Access Controller. One of the questions I asked during that interview was about whether PlayStation had any intention to, down the line, offer suggested button layout guides or presets for Access Controller players, on a game by game basis.

While Daniels made a solid case for why PlayStation as a company was opposed to the idea of layout presets for the Access Controller, I ‘ve spent the months since then mulling over the topic in my own time.

What are the arguments for and against offering disabled players suggested button mapping layouts for the Access Controller, tailored to a specific game? Is there a way that layout presets could work? Are there perhaps alternatives to offering layout presets which could achieve the same desired end result for players?

Let’s start with the argument against offering players Access Controller Layout Presets, as I think these is ultimately going to be easier argument to make.

When I spoke to Daniels back in September 2023, he made what I consider the strongest argument that exists against offering Access Controller Layout Presets.

To paraphrase his argument – Disabilities are so incredibly varied, as are the use cases for such a customisable accessibility controller, that suggesting a layout preset that will be helpful for a wide number of players, without unintentionally leading some disabled players in a direction that might ultimately be unhelpful for them, is very difficult to do reliably.

I don’t disagree with this core argument. It’s obviously important to recognise that suggesting a default controller layout for the Access Controller is a very different proposition to offering a default layout to DualSense controller players, where developers can reasonably assume a degree of uniform controller interaction. Developers can generally safely assume that most DualSense users are playing a game using two hands, with all buttons available to be pressed or held, but those same devvelopers are able to make far fewer assumptions about the use cases of an Access Controller player.

This is the only real argument that I have seen against offering Access Controller Layout Presets, but it is a strong argument. There are however arguments to be made both for use cases where Access Controller Layout Presets would be really useful to players, and I would argue there are ways that they could be offered without directly contradicting the negatives discussed above.

Let’s start off by discussing the use cases that Layout Presets might be useful for, before digging into how we might implement them, or reach the same end goals.

Firstly, let’s discuss Cognitive Accessibility.

Last week I published a 35 minute video chat with fellow accessibility focused content creator Arevya discussing the PlayStation Access Controller, four months post release. One of the points that she brought up in that discussion was the idea that Layout Presets for the Access Controller would be  really useful for Cognitive Accessibility.

There is, to put it lightly, a bit of a mental burden often associated with setting up the Access Controller to play a new game. This is somewhat lessened by the impressive button mapping software available for the controller, but at its core the issue persists. When booting up a new game, particularly of a new genre, there will likely be a fairly lengthy trial and error period while working out how best to remap, and remap, and remap again, until a game is comfortably playable.

Talking about my own early experiences with the Access Controller, most of my first day with the device at that preview event was spent pausing games every five minutes or so when a new button became important, as I worked out where best to put it, and how to move my inputs around.

This is part of the process, but for people with cognitive disabilities this can be initially overwhelming, and perpetually a roadblock impeding progress.

Additionally, this process of stop and start button mapping discovery is likely to be a barrier to access for newly disabled gamers. Coming to terms with a new or worsening disability isn’t always easy, and many people go through a stage of denial about their own needs. It’s easy to imagine, for example, someone picking up the Access Controller, needing to constantly pause to tweak their button mapping on their first game, getting frustrated, and returning to using the DualSense. Even if a regular controller is painful for example for that player to use, they may opt to use it rather than dealing with the faff associated with learning how to adapt to a new controller that they’re already a little uncomfortable about moving to.

Lastly, I’d argue that the current situation presents a barrier for any players who require assistance to setup or tweak their Access Controller layout. Having to call someone back over every five minutes or so at the start of a game to help tweak and make additions to the device, if they struggle with things like applying the small rubber icons to buttons or lifting buttons off of the device to replace them, that can create a barrier to play.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that offering Layout Presets for the Access Controller is the only option that could help support these groups of players. I think that they could be one solution, but it’s worth first acknowledging the steps that developers could take to help Access Controller users have a smoother play experience, without necessarily offering Layout Presets.

The most basic suggestion – Publish your default controller mappings online before your game releases. In addition, explain which are your most commonly used buttons overall, which ones are commonly used in time sensitive contexts such as combat vs which ones are mostly used in quieter moments, and explain any buttons which need simultaneously pressing or pressing in quick succession.

This small act of information sharing can make it a lot easier for Access Controller users to think about how to set up their buttons initially so that the most time sensitive buttons are easiest to press, and it can drastically reduce the number of remapping cycles needed early on with a new game.

Additionally, allow players to do game specific button remapping in software, so that they can remap buttons in the game menu itself rather than having to replace all of their keycaps into new positions and remap them in the Access Controller software if they find that easier.

But, let’s get back to the bigger question – Could we offer Access Controller Layout Preset suggestions, and how might they work?

The first thing that comes to mind for implementation is the model used by Valve with the Steam Deck, where players can optionally view a tab of community created button mapping profiles for a specific game, sorted by popularity. You could allow players who have access to an Access Controller to upload their button layouts for a game, alongside a title and description explaining the use case that it might be helpful for.

While this would obviously require a bit of moderation, and might not be perfect, it would allow disabled gamers to share the results of their experimentation and avoid PlayStation being liable for any unhelpful mappings offered.

Secondly, while this would take some work, it might be worth thinking about common use cases for the Access Controller, and allowing developers to offer suggestions based around those common use cases, much in the way that PlayStation is currently offering Vision, Hearing, and Motor accessibility presets in many of their first party titles.

A really easy example to consider is a one handed mapping profile, or a mapping designed to function on a single Access Controller rather than a pair of them. You could for example offer a mapping designed to support the right hand functions of a DualSense if you’ve got a player who’s holding a DualSense in just their left hand. Developers could offer a mapping layout where any buttons that need to be held could be mapped to the big central button on the Access Controller in order to be held with a foot rather than a thumb. You could find common use cases, and design layouts which get the ball rolling on functionality for specific user use cases.

I think a single Access Controller or one handed play setup is the most obvious use case suggestion here to see potential success in, as designing a one handed setup or a one Access Controller setup, given that the Access Controller only has about half the buttons of a DualSense, would require a developer to make an active effort to boil down their game’s most essential functions and think about how to make those most essential buttons most easily reached in combination.

Even if an offered one handed preset wasn’t usable right out of the box, such as if the one handed preset placed the analogue stick in a position that wasn’t reachable by this particular player, the preset being available would still tell the player a LOT about what the developer expects the most important inputs to be, and how to have them in proximity to each other.

Even if an offered one handed preset did need remapping, it would be a great starting point. It could get the player over that initial information hurdle, telling them what buttons they can’t do without, and would help to see what is important to keep in mind when they make their own layout or reorganise that layout.

And, as much as Daniels back at thar September 2023 preview event stated he didn’t think that Layout Presets for the Access Controller were helpful, PlayStation did funnily enough offer Layout Presets at that very preview event.

They offered a basic mapping profile for Gran Turismo involving a single stick, one button for accelerate, and one button for brake, with certain game settings preset to simplify driving with a limited number of inputs. They essentially created a one handed Access Controller layout preset that day for Gran Turismo.

That default mapping wasn’t super great for me, but it did get me started and playing, and not intimidated to jump in. It got me over the hurdle, and I kind of needed that. I think PlayStation knew, on some level, those of us who were about to try out the controller on that day would maybe need that.

While the argument against offering Access Controller Layout Presets is strong, I think it’s worth thinking still about why people are requesting this feature, and how we can work around it if its not officially offered.

We could, for example, start sharing Access Controller layouts as screenshots when new games release, sharing information between disabled players without official support, to help each other work out how to set these controllers up.

We could ask developers to be more transparent about controller mappings ahead of release, with particular emphasis on the kinds of inputs that need to be prioritised by a player during play.

We may never see Access Controller layout presets offered by PlayStation, but it’s also worth making noise about the fact that there’s people out there who would really benefit if we explored how controller layout presets might be able to be offered.