And This Is Why The PlayStation Controller Looks The Way It Does

Have you ever wondered why the PlayStation controller is the way it is? Well, if you have — we finally have the answer for you.

PlayStation designer Teiyu Goto, the man behind all three iterations, recently explained the idea behind the controllers buttons. Goto said that the idea was to keep it as simple as possible, and “That was…pretty tough”

He said that, “Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color.”

“The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that’s what I wanted.”

And that’s why the controller looks the way it does.

If you’re confused about the yes/no option, Kotaku explained that Japanese people see the Circle as Yes, and in most of their games they use this as action. In our games–in the Western world–we’re used to the bottom button for actions. Hence, X as accept.

There’s a long story about the controller and why it came into existence – if you’re interested, read it here.