Ubisoft will from now on produce games that are friendly to the deaf and hard of hearing by adding subtitles, according to several sources including Gamasutra.

Far Cry 2 will be the first game released by the French publishing firm to include subtitles, followed by Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding later this year.

Ubisoft also runs a charity known as AbilityTogether, which will partner with non-profit organization Handicap International to launch a game called Handigo. The game is a set of educational mini-games which "puts the player in the shoes of someone with a physical disability, a sensory disability, or learning difficulties," in order to educate the public about accessibility issues.

Blake: Ubisoft isn't the first game company to add subtitles or closed-captions to its games, but it is among the first to make it a policy. I know virtually no one disabled, but I do welcome a concerted move for greater accessibility and so should all gamers. Likewise, if Ubisoft intends to keep using French voice actors for English dialogue in a game taking place in Japan, I'll be taking advantage of the new policy myself.