Square, Circle, Triangle and X – What do the symbols mean on PS4 and PS5?

If you want to gamble on the PS4 or PS5, you’ve probably noticed the symbols that you can find all over the PlayStation. But what do square, circle, triangle and X actually mean?

If you play on the PS4 or have already bought a PS5, you will surely have noticed the signs that you can find on every PlayStation product from Sony:

You can find the icons on every PlayStation controller and use them to navigate through the menus or play your games. Sony also uses these symbols in the official PS Store or in many videos. But what do they even mean?

The idea for the characters on the PlayStation came from designers

Who Invented the PlayStation Icons? The designer Teiyu Goto is behind the symbols used everywhere today. Not only did he design the controller, but he also designed the first PlayStation console.

Goto almost failed with its controller design, because Sony would have preferred to have had a controller in the style of the SNES controller. Instead, Goto delivered a concept with handles and a joystick, which at first glance didn’t appeal to those responsible at Sony.

In the end, Sony President Norio Ohga decided to go with Goto’s design.

What do the signs mean? Teiyu Goto explained that there is a meaning behind each of the symbols. Already with the PlayStation 1, great importance was attached to high accessibility and therefore he also gave a lot of thought to the right controller:

The triangle refers to the viewing angle; I left it for the head or direction and made it green,” Goto said. “The square refers to a piece of paper; i used it for menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and the X represent the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision and I made them red and blue respectively.

(via cnet.com)

Today, many games use the characters in completely different ways, but that was Goto’s original idea when designing for Sony. Incidentally, according to Sony, the official names for the buttons are:

• Triangle – (triangle)
• Circle – (circle)
• cross – (cross)
• Square – (Square, but also quadrilateral)

The symbols also play a role in some games. Because in the USA and Germany you press the X button for “Yes” and the O button for “No”. In Japan it is exactly the opposite.

The symbols on the PlayStation denote pizza

What does pizza have to do with the PlayStation? There was a huge discussion in the PlayStation community about the “X” button a few years ago. Because some are of the opinion that it is an “X”, others are convinced that it is a “cross”.

The discussion was pretty crazy and PlayStation UK declared that they had chosen a “winner” from the many votes: Since then the symbols “are named”:

• pizza (circle)
• Pizza slice (triangle)
• Pizza Box (Square)
• No Pizza (X)

Currently you can hardly buy the PS5, but there are already rumors about the PS6. MeinMMO provides you with all information about the PlayStation 6.

When will the PS6 appear? Everything we know about Sony’s PlayStation 6