X marks the spot for PS5 in Japan as the confirm button becomes more global

With just over a month to go and some change, there’s still a lot that we don’t about the PS5. Questions regarding how its storage works, the user interface experience, and just how many Cheetos I need to eat to make Geoff go blind with fury when I get my dust-covered hands on his pristine white controller, sadly don’t have answers.

Well two out of three of them at least, as I’m sure Geoff’s going to help me remove a crap tattoo with that chainsaw of his. Here’s something that we do know: The status quo of confirmation is about to change in Japan. No longer will the circle-loving masses have to bow down to the iron fist of the X-class, as Sony’s changing how players in the land of the Rising Sun will be saying “yes” on the PS5:

I guess you could say that X no longer marks the spot.

A little megaton, especially for Japanese players: the confirm button on PS5 will be X instead of ◯ going forward https://t.co/poWzBa4sUc pic.twitter.com/XqtnAlPTSm

— Nibel (@Nibellion) October 4, 2020

If you need more DualSense information, Famitsu has a video showing close-ups of the controller. No one at the recent Sony event was allowed to make use of the Create button, on pain of being strapped to a chair and watching Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2’s newly rendered Aerith death scene. Monsters.

As for why the change is such a bombshell? That comes down to Japanese aesthetics and culture. In that region, the circle is usually atrributed with more positive actions whereas the X is the inverse. They’ve been using the circle button for years as the confirmation input while the rest of the world preferred to have X with which to make a mark. With this change, the PS5 strategy is not only more unified around the world, but one could say more western as well.

And before you ask, no it’s not a slow news day. This is genuinely distressing news to me and I wanted to share my pain with everyone. Japanese YouTubers got their surprisingly clean hands on the console over the weekend, revealing a whole host of informational tidbits. Tune in later, when we press them for answers on whether or not the console is capable of blending in with the rest of my equipment or if it’ll look like a punk rocker attending an episode of the Antiques Roadshow.

Last Updated: October 5, 2020