PS5 Controller Makes a Huge Change for Japanese Gamers

Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5 has been making the rounds to a few news outlets, especially around Japan, where new footage and promotional images for the system are being released. While some features for the new console like a black Dualsense controller have supposedly leaked recently, some of these new hands-on looks have revealed some confirmed features, including regionally specific ones.

Originally shared on Famitsu, 4Gamer, and AV Watch, most of this information has mostly been circulating around Japanese websites, with few hands-on exclusives coming from outside of Sony’s home country. Fortunately, industry insider Nibel has begun compiling some of these new looks at the PS5 as well as some of the new features that had yet to be revealed until now.

The newest regional specific feature is a change coming to Japanese players that has been the norm for other players worldwide since partway through the lifecycle of the original PlayStation. According to AV Watch, the Dualsense controller, while it will look the same both in Japan and worldwide, the confirm button will now be set to the PS5’s Cross button instead of Circle. This has been the way that games have released in Japan up until now, but Sony seems to be moving forward with making the default setting universal across all regions.

Some older players may still remember when Circle was the default setting for confirm on the original PlayStation, including on classic titles like the original Final Fantasy 7. This mostly comes from a cultural difference in Japan, where Circle is generally a positive symbol, where X or Cross is much more common to be seen as a negative, hence the current positions for confirm and deny. The change won’t effect players in regions outside of Japan, but this will likely be a blessing to localization teams transferring games across different countries now having a universal button layout.

It’s difficult to say exactly what this change means for Next-Gen consoles, as if this is Sony making moves to make connecting the local region’s audience connect with players worldwide. Looking at the PS5 and its announced and leaked features, it would seem that the company does intend to take a more global stance in game development by ending culturally specific norms. Of course, this could also just be one more way of making game development and system localization easier for both Sony and 3rd parties developing on the new console.

PS5 is set to release on November 12, 2020.

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