While it has them during gameplay, the new Spyro Reignited Trilogy doesn’t have subtitles during its cutscenes. So anyone who is hearing impaired, or just likes to play with the sound down/off and wants to enjoy the game’s story, is shit out of luck.
This is very much not normal, which is why what might seem like a minor oversight is actually blowing up into kind of a big deal. The game was released last week, when the omission was first noticed, but it wasn’t until GamePitt asked Activision for a statement a few days ago that it became clear something wasn’t quite right.
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 localised 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.
As Ars Technica point out, this isn’t the first time Activision has done this with a re-release; last year’s Crash Trilogy didn’t have subtitles in its cutscenes either.
Activision are right in saying there’s no industry standard (this Twitter thread does an excellent job of explaining why), but that’s not coming across as a particularly valid excuse, nor is the fact “certain decisions needed to be made”, when pretty much every other game from every other major publisher is able to include them.
It absolutely is an industry standard, Activision’s statement is simply incorrect. It doesn’t have to be a legal or cert requirement for it to be standard. We’re in 2018 not 1998, the entire industry voluntarily including subtitles means including them is an industry standard.
— Ian Hamilton (@ianhamilton_) November 19, 2018
The company’s statement wraps up by saying they “will evaluate going forward”, which means subtitles might be added in an upcoming patch.
It’s 2018 and video games should be for everyone, so it’s a shame that while some major companies are releasing dedicated accessible controllers, others see subtitles—of all things!—as a way to cut corners.
Comments
11 responses to “The New Spyro Doesn’t Have Subtitles In Its Cutscenes, Which Is Crazy”
I’m one of those weirdos who has normal hearing but I feel I need subtitles for movies, Tv shows and games..
I always turn them on for games. It’s much quicker to read then to listen and makes churning through conversation in games like Mass Effect much faster
I can hear just fine but I can process and understand written text faster, more easily and with less error than I can words in audio.
I need subtitles for mostly newer movies at home, where there’s a MASSIVE EXPLOSION AND TONS OF GUNFIRE, SCREAMING, AND THE HORNS BLARE!!! And then there’s scenes in between where people either whisper or talk about 1,000,000dB softer than the movie’s sound effects.
What’s really got me is that there’s no sensitivity options for the camera, and that the active camera isn’t anywhere near active enough.
Original twitter comment is right – there is no industry standard
No industry standard would approve 5pt (hyperbole added for dramatic effect) fonts being used for subtitles that force people to squint all the time.
Japanese games do it right – their subtitles are a decent size (occasionally too big) – but Western games? Not a single developer has a clue unfortunately
Developer: “Hey it looks fine on the HD big screen in my office, the one 30cm from my chair”
I’m not buying the explanation in that Twitter essay. Teams of thousands can create engines that render 3-dimensional worlds more than 100 times a second, but putting some text on the screen never makes it past the too-hard basket?
Is this really an issue worth getting upset over? Yeah it’s 2018 not 1998 but so far the main difference seems to be that now we’re offended by everything
Yes, it is when you have a hearing impairment. It has nothing to do with being offended and everything to do with trying to enjoy it like everyone else.
Yeah… I wouldn’t call this outrage… No subtitles for a game in 2018 is pretty unreasonable.
Yeah, inverted controls aren’t an industry standard either, but ya know what I call games that don’t have the option?
Fucking lazy…..
Night is when I play games/relax and the missus and baby are asleep, subtitles are a god send.