Spyro fans are angry about missing cutscene subtitles

Activision’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy finally released last week, and by most accounts, it is a fun and faithful adaptation of the classic PS1 trilogy.

However, one missing feature in the remasters has been the subject of complaints from many gamers, which is the lack of subtitles for the cutscenes. Activision has released a statement responding to questions about the matter. However, it has done little to address many gamers’ complaints about this issue.

“When Toys For Bob set out to make an awesome game collection, there were certain decisions that needed to be made throughout the process,” stated Activision’s in a response to Gamepitt. “The team remained committed to [keeping] 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.”

Whilst this statement suggests that Activision is considering the needs of the deaf gaming community, it doesn’t really address why there aren’t any subtitles. On one hand, the original trilogy on the PlayStation also lacked subtitle support. On the other however, the expectations from the gaming community nowadays are that games should have some bare minimum accessibility options, such as subtitles.

Furthermore, the fact that they are ostensibly remasters meant that it would have made sense to improve upon the originals by adding these options. The Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy, also published by Activision, similarly lacked subtitles. Considering how few cutscenes that game has, however, it was less noticeable in that case.

Many gamers have reacted negatively to the news that the Reignited Trilogy lacks subtitles on sites like Reddit. One enterprising gamer who is hard of hearing has started a change.org petition for subtitles to be patched in. Some of the more cynical commenters have suggested that Activision will later add subtitles as paid DLC.

In 2018, it is surprising that a major release is being launched without subtitle support, which has been standard for most games for years. Hopefully, it will be patched in by the developers soon, so that the hard of hearing community can enjoy the Spyro Reignited Trilogy as well.