The Sony PlayStation brand has been around since the 1990s and over the years it’s been popular in a wide variety of markets. However, originating in Japan, the company opted to make one change in the market that wasn’t present in North America. On the consoles leading up to the PlayStation 5, the selection button for the various in-game menus was the circle button. If you ever imported a video game from Japan you might be a bit confused initially when trying to select or start a game.
For decades now we’ve been used to pressing the X button to go through the various in-game menus and selection screens. It’s a default button for us but the Japanese markets the circle button was used initially and has been that way all the way up to the PlayStation 4. That’s going to change with the PlayStation 5. We’re uncertain as to why the sudden change up but it looks like the PlayStation 5 in Japan will also be using the X button to make selections on the console platform.
We’re sure that will be frustrating for gamers who in the market that has been using the circle button since the original PlayStation console. However, at the very least it will be unified across all markets. Again, we’re not sure just what made the company opt to make this change but we’re sure that for those gamers who can’t get over the button placement, they’ll likely be able to remap the button in the PlayStation 5 settings.
At any rate, those of you who are wanting to get your hands on PlayStation 5 may want to go through pre-order especially if you want a unit at launch. Even then the pre-orders may not guarantee you a console at the launch date as Amazon was one of the first retailers to make alert consumers that their consoles may arrive late. In the meantime, the official launch date for the PlayStation 5 is November 12, 2020, for select markets.