Splatoon director says voice chat omission was a design choice

Upcoming Wii U multiplayer shooter Splatoon is missing a key feature common the genre deliberately, its co-director has said.

"When I played online games, I didn’t like the negativity I got and people telling me, ‘You’re crap, go away’," Yusuke Amano said in the latest edition of Edge magazine. So we wanted to focus on the positive aspects of online gaming.

"I don’t want you to misunderstand — I’m not denying having chat in an online game does contribute to fun. But, as we’ve said, we want to grab new people."

The omission isn’t a huge shock. Nintendo has typically been fearful of using many conventional online features in its titles in case the toxicity of players exposed its often young hardware owners to abuse or crudity.

And as alluded to by Amano, it’s also unlikely that Nintendo is hoping to steal away Call of Duty or Battlefield owners from their beloved titles. Instead, if Splatoon has any appeal it’s likely to be directed at existing Wii U owners who fancy some family-friendly, gore-free competitive multiplayer.

Splatoon will be released on May 29th in the UK.