PS5 Won’t Have X & Circle Buttons Difference Between Japan & The West Anymore

Today we learn an interesting piece of trivia about the upcoming PS5 thanks to a preview published by the Japanese website AV Watch.

One of the largest differences between using Japanese and western games on PlayStation has been for the longest time the fact that the west uses the X button to confirm and the circle button to cancel. Japanese games use the opposite configuration. The same goes for many more Asian countries.

This is going the way of the dodo, with all regions using what was previously the western standard.

According to Sony Interactive Entertainment PR cited by AV Watch, this has been decided to avoid having to get used to different button configurations when using games from different countries.

This may help those who import Japanese games while playing a lot of western games as well, since you won’t have to switch your brain to “Japanese controller mode.”

That being said, I can see many local gamers raising an eyebrow at the decision, considering that in Japan the original setup wasn’t just an arbitrary choice of buttons. In Japan and several Asian countries, circle is the symbol widely used for “yes” or “true” while X is the symbol that usually indicates “no” or “false” and it’s something strongly rooted in the region’s culture.

Incidentally, you can catch a lot of PS5 gameplay showcased today by a large group of local YouTubers.

If you’re interested in the PS5, recently Sony announced both prices and release dates.

The standard edition will cost $499.99, €499.99, £449.99, or 49,980 yen while the Digital Edition is priced at $399.99, €399.99, £359.99, or 39,980 yen.

The first release date will be on November 12 in the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Everyone else will have to wait a little more: the console will launch in Europe and in the rest of the world on November 19.