While the inclusion of accessibility options might not affect every gamer, it is always good to see games taking the extra steps to make sure their games can be enjoyed by the largest number of gamers possible. To that end, the developers behind Forza Horizon 5 will be including two forms of sign language support, American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) to the game.
Playground Games, the Microsoft-owned studio behind the game, stated that the feature will arrive shortly after launch and would grant players the ability to activate a sign language interpreter for the game’s cutscenes. The feature can be toggled on and off as need be and would feature the interpreter in a picture-in-picture display near the bottom right hand on the screen.
For those unsure of why, as the picture above showcases, the need to support both sign language and subtitle is so important, it is emotion. With a sign language interpreter, there is more ability to convey more nuanced emotion, which the written word might struggle to do.
According to the UK organization, Britsh Sign, 145,000 people listed BSL as their preferred language at the start of the last decade, with it being officially recognized as a minority language in 2003. These are only a few accessibilities options that the game will feature as it also has color blindness options, text-to-speech, a screen reader narrator, and more.
Microsoft has been extremely progressive when it comes to making sure a wide range of needs are met when playing their games. Several years ago the company released the Xbox Adaptive Controller which allowed users to mix and match parts they needed, each designed to help with certain disabilities. Let’s hope that everybody else is taking note of features like this because when just one person is allowed to enjoy their game better with support such as this, we all win.
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