When Activision’s Spyro Reignited launched last year, the three-game remake collection garnered plenty of praise. However, it also drew heavy criticism for omitting subtitle accessibilityoptions for deaf and hard of hearing players. Four months later, they’ve finally been added.
When the Spyro community first began drawing attention to the trilogy’s lack of subtitles during cinematic cut-scenes, Activision didn’t exactly do itself any favours. Rather than admitting it had perhaps made a mistake in neglecting to include accessibility options, the publisher merely attempted to excuse itself by claiming in a statement, “there’s no industry standard for subtitles”. It did, however, promise to “evaluate [the issue] going forward.”
All of which leads us to today, and the arrival of a new update for Spyro Reignited on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, introducing, as revealed in the patch notes, “subtitles in all languages (across all three games) for previously unsupported cinematics”.
Going into more detail, Activision says that subtitles also include “character headers to identify active speakers”, “succinct line splits for readability”, and “coloured text for improved character association in most languages”. All extremely welcome additions, although it’s still disappointing that it took a public outcry to get them implemented in-game; hopefully the episode has encouraged Activision to establish policies around accessibility for future titles.
Sadly, it seems increasingly unlikely that 2017’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, another Activision game that received criticism for its lack of subtitles, will get the same treatment.