One of the biggest and best games of 2021 now has the ability to reach even more people as Forza Horizon 5 will now have sign language support.
With both American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) support now available to the in-game cutscenes, Playground Games is taking leaps for accessibility in video games.
The developer reached out to Akitt who worked as a consultant on the project and the update (available March 1) will feature actors from the deaf and hard of hearing community signing the game’s campaign
“For them, it’s a really tiring experience, not being able to access your first language,” says Akitt, a London-based teacher of the deaf and accessibility consultant. “We should be able to access the same story beats and narrative components. Otherwise, we’re only getting half the picture and not getting the full experience. Including sign language is about enabling more deaf and hard of hearing people to have ownership over their gaming experience.”
Last year during The Game Awards 2021, Playground Games won the Innovation in Accessibility award for implementing sign language into Forza Horizon 5.
