Microsoft’s upcoming Forza Horizon 5 will become the first major video game to feature a sign language interpreter for cut scenes, marking a significant step forward for the company’s efforts to enhance accessibility.
Playground Games, the developer in charge of the game’s creation, has announced that post-launch updates will include picture-in-picture American Sign Language and British Sign Language options.
Although Microsoft has not specified the update’s release date, this move is a momentous advance for gamers with hearing disabilities and may encourage other developers to make sign language interpretation a standard feature in major games with adequate resources.
The game is set to launch on November 9 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and through Xbox Game Pass. Consequently, it may take until the new year for the sign language feature to become available.
Mike Brown, Creative Director, stated in an Xbox Wire blog post, “We’re constantly listening to the community to make Forza Horizon 5 an inclusive experience for everyone to enjoy. With this in mind, the team is excited to share we are also working on American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) support for cinematics in Forza Horizon 5.”
In addition to the sign language feature, Forza 5 will introduce other accessibility enhancements. These include a Game Speed Modification feature for offline play aiming to assist newcomers, as well as high contrast and color blindness modes to enhance visibility of menus and text.
For gamers engaging in voice chat, text-to-speech and speech-to-text options will be available. Furthermore, a screen reader narrator has been incorporated to audibly read text, buttons, and other elements.
Further improvements include the ability to disable moving backgrounds during gameplay, customize the duration of notifications on screen, and customize subtitle settings.
A comprehensive overview of the Forza 5 accessibility options can be found in the video below.
