Poll Finds Most Japanese Users Not Happy With Sony Reversing PS5 Button Layout

Following the news that Sony is changing the longstanding button scheme for the PlayStation controller for Japanese users, it seems like a good number of Japanese users are frustrated. Popular Japanese gaming site Inside Games held a poll to gauge the reaction to the change.

The new poll was open for roughly 1000 users, where a majority of users said they aren’t happy with the change, and would rather keep the original “O” to “accept” layout. Since the very first PlayStation, Japanese users have had the aforementioned layout while westerners have had the reverse – “O” to “cancel” and “X” to “accept”, further confusing things.


The poll asked users if they either: agreed with the change, streamlining the control scheme is good; didn’t care for the change so long as they can change it on their machine; disagreed with the change, they want the original layout. Out of 1047 votes, 254 votes (24.3%) agreed, 333 votes (31.8%) would compromise, and 458 votes (43.7%) opposed it.

A common concern for Japanese users is that the new button layout will also apply for backwards compatible games, meaning they will have to relearn games due to muscle memory with old button layouts. Sony has also confirmed the new button layout cannot be changed on the user’s local console, meaning users open to that option will be disappointed.

It’s worth noting Xbox’s button scheme matches Sony’s new worldwide standard – the Xbox “A” is “accept” and the “B” is “cancel.” Nintendo’s button scheme is the reversed, now-old Japanese PlayStation button scheme, where “B” is to “cancel” and “A” is to “accept.”

PlayStation 5 is launching on November 12th in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, and on November 19th in other worldwide regions.


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