The Spyro Reignited Trilogy launched last week and it didn’t take fans long to realize that it was missing something crucial, subtitles. that’s right, in 2018 a game released by one of the biggest AAA publishers has shipped without subtitles. While many might not think much of this oversight it is a sad jab at any player who might have a hearing related disability. In a statement given to GamePitt, Activision had this to say.
“When Toys For Bob set out to make an awesome game collection, there were certain decisions that needed to be made throughout the process. The team remained committed to keep the integrity and legacy of Spyro that fans remembered intact. The game was built from the ground up using a new engine for the team (Unreal 4), and was localized in languages that had not previously been attempted by the studio. While there’s no industry standard for subtitles, the studio and Activision care about the fans’ experience especially with respect to accessibility for people with different abilities, and will evaluate going forward.”
The community has been quick to point out the lack of subtitles as well as comment on the statement given by Activision. Numerous posts can be found across Reddit commenting on the matter. An online petition has even been started to try and get the feature implemented. I know that I use subtitles in every game I play so I don’t miss a key piece of dialogue. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for someone with a hearing disability to try and play a story driven game without them. Gaming has been pushing an all inclusive approach for well over a decade and to have such a basic accessibility option missing in 2018 is just an unacceptable shame.
