‘Forza Horizon 5’ update adds sign language support

nme.com:

Playground Games has released a new Forza Horizon 5 update which adds sign language support.Previously announced last year, the sign language support feature has been in development for a while but has finally arrived today for all platforms.When players boot up Forza Horizon 5, they should be able to find both American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) features in the settings.The sign language update will support 150 in-game cinematics that are shown throughout the game, making the driving game much more accessible for deaf and hard of hearing players.The newly released YouTube video shows how the feature has been implemented, with actors from the deaf and hard of hearing community signing in the corner of the screen during the cinematics, story segments, and challenges.In a new blog post detailing the update, Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, discussed the new update and talked about her own deafness, saying that with the addition of signing in the game, she no longer needs to ask her family what she missed.“There are so many people with disabilities and people who are deaf.

And, there are a lot of closed doors every day. And what I mean by that is that we are consistently and constantly dealing with inequities that exist,” she said.“The fact that I can just be on the same level playing field as them means I’m not focused on a closed door.

I’m not trying to solve for an inequity. I’m being present with my family and there’s nothing that’s more important to me than that.”Software engineer Michael Anthony, who lost his hearing when he was a toddler, said: “I was really impressed with the team’s willingness to take this on.