Forza Horizon 5 Receiving Sign Language Support For 150 Cutscenes

thegamer.com:

The developer behind Forza Horizon 5, Playground Games, will be adding sign language support for 150 cutscenes. Players will be able to enjoy these in both American and British Sign Language by turning on the relevant game settings. The update is currently scheduled to be released on March 1, 2022.

Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft Jenny Lay-Flurrie noted the many difficulties which the deaf and hard of hearing face on a daily basis, pointing out that her company is committed to leveling the playing field in Forza Horizon 5. "There are so many people with disabilities and people who are deaf. And there are a lot of closed doors every day," Lay-Flurrie said. "And what I mean by that is that we are consistently and constantly dealing with inequities that exist. The fact that I can just be on the same level playing field as them means I'm not focused on a closed door."

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Forza Horizon 5 was developed with advice and input from people in the deaf and hard of hearing community. The addition of sign language support seems to be one move in a strategy of making the game accessible to the greatest possible number of people.

Cameron Akitt who consulted with Playground on the development of Forza Horizon 5 explained that "it's a really tiring experience not being able to access your first language." Akitt went on to say that "including sign language is about enabling more deaf and hard of hearing people to have ownership over their gaming experience."

"We actually learned that although we think subtitles are great and help everyone, they actually aren't that helpful for people that are deaf or hard of hearing who rely on signing," Producer