Splatoon won’t have any voice chat support

Nintendo has confirmed that its new shooter won't support voice chat.

[Cindy-rella]

The long time fans that loves Nintendo will be ok with this. Most people that bought a Nintendo console knows Nintendos ways so it shouldn't bother them

[mhunterjr]

No one should be ok with this. Not in 2015... You can't have a proper online shooter without being about to coordinate with your team. The game looks great by the way, and looks to have to potential to be a truly unique competitive shooter, but Nintendo seems insistent in handicapping themselves.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

the whole 2015 thing need to stop. There is no rule, guideline or laws that state voice chat is a must.

[mhunterjr]

@otaku

There are no laws, but there are common expectations. The general gamer in 2015 expects to be able to coordinate with their teammates in conpetitive shooters.

It's simply a disappointing omission from a game that is overflowing with tactical potential. There's no logical explanation, given the technology that has become standardized over the last decade, to not have this as an option...

[Gazondaily]

Ye no voice chat in a team based shooter, Nintendo title or not, is not acceptable. Really sucks to be honest.

The game otherwise looks brilliant. Come on Ninty...wtf?

[Summons75]

You're right it's 2015 and I haven't seen coordinating in an online game since 2004. It's better to cut off the screaming children then to have to mute all every other match.

[freshslicepizza]

i don't get it, we are now defending the lack of voice chat in an online team based game?

[bouzebbal]

Come on Nintendo, it's 2016.
Where are all the Nintendo Network promises?

They are making some great games, too bad online integration is from another time.

[Cindy-rella]

A lot of people are saying that for a team based game not to have voice chat is unacceptable but a lot of people will still go out and buy this game. If you think not have voice chat is unacceptable that means nintendos console as a core gaming machine is unacceptable because they do this with a bunch of their games. A lot of things Nintendo does are unacceptable but people continually support them accepting nintendos policies then complain when Nintendo does something they disagree with in a game they are interested in. Stop supporting silliness in gaming. Stop complaining that Nintendo are doing what they normally do. Its either you buy it or you dont. To each their own. I dont see why people buy Nintendo systems and expect to have what is normal on a ps4 and xbox

[Bimkoblerutso]

It doesn't even have anything to do with arbitrary rules or expectations. Voice chat makes multiplayer more fun to play with friends, plain and simple.

The mute function is there when you don't want to have to listen to people, so that's the dumbest justification I have ever heard.

You can still love Nintendo even if you acknowledge that they make some really stupid decisions sometimes...

[MacDonagh]

@mhunterjr "Not in 2015." In 2015, QTEs and letterboxing still happened in the Order and people on this forum "love" that game, claiming that it was unfairly criticized and it was "brilliant".

I think the reason why they don't bother with voice chat is to provide a safer space for younger children to actually play a game online without fear of being trolled or called names. That, and Nintendo have placed their priorities elsewhere.

[N4g_null]

No one is ok with this in 2015 which is why we all use http://www.razerzone.com/co... .

It doesn't take up any bandwidth for the game and it has way more features than regular console chat options. Plus too nintendo is going mobile, I'm sure you have a phone with head phones on it... it actually works better than the $50 headsets at game stop.

This is 2015 and consoles where never made to be real multimedia devices... They simply lack the power... Ps4 included. Developers should concentrate on putting that power back into the games.

Plus I can block, mute and call any one I want. Dena should look into this or just buy this company.

Also visual coordination works for this game. I really hope nintendo looks into fixing the voice chat for gamers who need it and give us the option to run it on different devices that we already own so developers can squeeze every thing out of this little box.

Plus with the DeNA announcement you can bet on voicechat coming now. Sure it is possible but it always uses up netcode. It's not worth the overhead on consoles. I'm glad nintendo doesn't try and stretch the wiiu pass its limits like how they do with the other systems with features that sort of work are almost not responsive, plus to voice chat quality is horrible on consoles. Pcs and phone are a better device and all gaming communication should go thur those.

Slaptoon could be the first target for such a service.

[vickers500]

@scissor_runner

Oh sure, that would work wonders.

Gamer: *composes message on Nintendo network* Hey random Splatoon player I played with online and have never met in person, get on your computer right now, download this random piece of software you've never heard of and talk to me. I promise it's not a virus, I promise I'm not a creepy weirdo for going through all this trouble to talk to one random person online. Please talk to me.

Random splatoon player: Oh sure, I'm one of the few people who wouldn't think that's weird or too much trouble to do at all, but unfortunately, I do not have a home computer, and even if I did, it probably wouldn't be near me and the headset would be wired, so unfortunately that wouldn't work.

Gamer: Well damn, I guess I'm off to compose 99 more similar messages in hopes to find a few people willing and able to do what I just asked you. Wish me luck.

[LOL_WUT]

This is unacceptable in a game where voice chat should be mandatory. I don't see how anyone is willing to support this ;)

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

@Hunter
I'm sorry, Hunter, but I just don't buy that excuse anymore.
Out of all the shooter games I've played online, maybe 2% of my matches ever had ANY form of coordination through voice chat.
Most of the time, voice chat just becomes a tool for trolls and children to abuse and annoy others.
If all you play is MLG-style matches with friends, doing it all serious for cash or prizes or rank, then that's where it's used more often for coordination.
But that's a decided minority of the population, and since this game works differently, because you're painting the stage rather than focusing on kills, voice chat is less necessary for coordination.
Especially because the map on the game pad shows which areas need the most attention and will inspire a natural sense of coordination in the first place simply by drawing players to the biggest area of opposing color.

[N4g_null]

@vickers500

How lame....

You know it works on a phone and you know what you can use it on any game, would work great on cross platform games also. Isn't that a feature we all wanted? So far sony and nintendo both allow cross gaming play, yet no one has jumped in that pool fully with FPS.

Take a look at what it offers before making up imaginary scenarios. The scenario of your game not working and you simply can not play it because the development team ran into feature creep trying to make voice chat quality while gamers across the world try to ruin it? Why when there is already a solution?

Also Razor is pretty well known? You sound like a casual player saying that. Remember Gamespy... we all ran servers off those guys for the longest time, and now they are not good enough. Maybe you are just young?

Also I'm suggesting that they could just add in an app like this later or at launch of this game. I'm pretty sure I can play this game with out voice chat. So i'd rather they add this in via patch or offer you guys an companion app that can actually launch when you the game.

This is the full suite of what I would want in a Nintendo chat experience.

Chat - across platforms and games- You guys have been begging for this and scoff at a real solution, is just being a hater. PS4 and Xbox don't even offer this stuff.
Communicate with your friends easily through messages, and then access your chat history so you’ll never have to miss out on anything. Set up play times, even practice session for competitive play.
Voice as good as your phone because it is your phone. You have already paid for it why not use it, every thing is synced. Developers just need to use their servers. which means when sony and ms shut down a server you loose voice chat also. Why tie your self to one platform.
Razer Comms gives you easy access to a whole range of comprehensive features such as crystal clear voice chat, adding or muting friends, adjusting speaker settings and more. Yeah this is a real chat system, that is free, but hold up you pay money for your BAHHHHHHHH LOL.
Share because it's why you bought a PS4 right? Right?!
Whether you need to send screenshots or custom maps to your partner or the entire guild, you can do so in just a few simple clicks.

Now hold up... this is the direction nintendo could be heading. It is still up in the air if this game has voice chat. The wiiu has the tech and the code base... Yet would you like a lame voice chat experience or one that works? That you can acess from any where.

I'm not saying we should use this razercomm I saying we should demand a service that is untethered to a console account, one closer to twitch or youtube not sony or Ms or nintendo.

Choice is always better. This is worth discussion.

[freshslicepizza]

asking consumers to find their own solutions really isn't acceptable to me. nintendo needs to stop pandering and allow its users to moderate their own time limits and restrictions. parenting is done at home and they are best suited for this. not some company from japan who thinks its in everyone's best interest not to support voice chat because they worry about who is on the other end and what they may or may not say.

as for taking a stand and not buying the game because of it might be a noble idea but that again goes back to how much people actually care and do they care enough to potentially miss out on what might be a great game? it's not like the wii u has dozens of great games to choose from as it is so that stance may hurt game support even more.

[vickers500]

"Also Razor is pretty well known? You sound like a casual player saying that. Remember Gamespy... we all ran servers off those guys for the longest time, and now they are not good enough. Maybe you are just young?"

Not that young, 23. My point though, is that unless you're a geek, you probably haven't heard of Razer, or maybe you have, but don't know where from, and don't trust them enough to download some random piece of software that some stranger is trying to coax you into downloading.

I highly doubt the majority of online splatoon players will have heard of Razer, one reason for that as you were trying to apply to me, is that there are probably going to be a lot of younger people playing. Even if everyone on Earth knew about Razer, there's a large portion of people who simply aren't going to want to go through the trouble of downloading it to their computer or phone. It's just not an acceptable solution in the real world. It kind of sucks I know, but the majority of people aren't going to go through the trouble of installing some third party software just because someone on their game asked them to, frankly it's pretty weird and creepy to go through that much trouble to attempt to talk to someone you don't know in the slightest.

I'd be all for Razer implementing their voice chat system into the Wii U console as some piece of software/app that you can manage and use FROM THE CONSOLE, but using a phone or a computer? No.

[RosweeSon]

I agree and am a big Nintendo fan but just feel they are missing a trick here big time specially as this game is gonna have team based game modes, guess we'll have to stick to the smoke signals.

[UmbrellaBlimp]

Gotta love it when a Nintendo Fanboy speaks for "real" nintendo fans. It's cute.

[Aceman18]

I've absolutely NO reason to even consider buying this game now, no voice chat in an online shooter is purely asinine in my book.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Why?
Because you can't "coordinate" with your team?
No one in public online users chat for the sake of that anymore. It's all squeakers and trolls now.XD

[Aceman18]

@wonder

What if I wanna chat with my friends? Why are people defending this backwards thinking smh

[masterfox]

lol defending it ? I know even you know thats pretty pathetic by Nintendo on its incapable console. oh fan#$ys you amaze sometimes to the max.

[3-4-5]

Truly Intelligent people don't need voice communication to work as a team and know what needs to happen.

* I've played Thousands of FPS Multiplayer games without a mic and always was able to see when something needed to happen or a teamate needed help.

* If you have situational awareness, then you will always "kind of" know what is going on at any given time and where you need to be.

* Voice chat in a fast paced quick game like this will be useless anyways.

With all the action going on it would just be a jumble of yelling, screams and weird noises.

* Nintendo tested that....knows this....and is doing us a favor.

Once again....we American's are too stupid to realize this so we complain and act like we are being wronged some how.

Pathetic.

99% of ACTUAL owners of the Wii U won't give two cares about this at all.

It's all the People who don't own a Wii U....all the trolling fansboys from "elsewhere" that come in here and ACT like it's a bigger deal than it is.

* Sony fans would be PRAISING this if it was in Uncharted 4 or The Last of US or something.....but because Nintendo does it they are " behind the times".

* Not everything "new and cool" ends up actually working all the time as intended and some things are better left a bit more simple.

* Basically Trash Media will try to make this an issue instead of doing the people a service and telling them the truth.

Pathetic.

[vickers500]

"Truly Intelligent people don't need voice communication to work as a team and know what needs to happen."

Yeah, good luck with getting matched up with "truly intelligent people" every match, or even a few matches.

"* I've played Thousands of FPS Multiplayer games without a mic and always was able to see when something needed to happen or a teamate needed help."

Assuming you're telling the truth, you're in the vast minority.

"* Voice chat in a fast paced quick game like this will be useless anyways."

I watched about an hour, maybe more, worth of gameplay last e3 and it doesn't seem fast paced enough that voice chat would be useless. Notifying your team that an enemy is painting your base, or a certain area very quickly sounds pretty damned useful in a game where the entire objective is to prevent that from happening, I don't think you can paint an entire area in seconds, so notifying your team mates to get over to that area to prevent the enemy from painting your base sound EXTREMELY useful.

"* Nintendo tested that....knows this....and is doing us a favor."

You are seriously pathetic if you think that Nintendo excluding a feature (which they could disable by default and make optional to turn on) is "doing us a favor". You sound like someone who think microtransactions and day one dlc are "a good deal".

"99% of ACTUAL owners of the Wii U won't give two cares about this at all."

True, but that's not because they don't care about this feature, it's because they're not going to buy Splatoon at all.

"It's all the People who don't own a Wii U....all the trolling fansboys from "elsewhere" that come in here and ACT like it's a bigger deal than it is."

I have a Wii U and it's a pretty freaking big deal for a primarily multiplayer focused online shooter, whose big gimmick has a foundation MORE suited to TEAMWORK than most modern shooters these days, not to have voice communication. It's a huge deal in regards to the game.

"* Sony fans would be PRAISING this if it was in Uncharted 4 or The Last of US or something.....but because Nintendo does it they are " behind the times"."

No they wouldn't, and yes, Nintendo are behind the times, in more ways than one, I won't bother going into why if you can't see for yourself.

"* Not everything "new and cool" ends up actually working all the time as intended and some things are better left a bit more simple."

Lol, voice chat isn't a "new and cool" thing, it's been around for f'kn ever. And less communication in a teamwork based game is simplicity? Lol.

I sincerely hope you're trolling.

[Munnkyman]

I'm a long time nintendo fan, and this really bothers me.

[Shnazzyone]

I'm a big fan but this really disappoints me. It's not like it can't be done just nintendo doesn't do it because of the stupid fear of backlash from parent activist groups. Getting sick of nintendo dodging this feature at every turn honestly

The worst part is omitting the voice chat feature hurts sales. Here in america we like having that feature built in. It's really going to hurt their new IP and any chance of this title becoming a system seller. That's honestly the worst part.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

So Gamexplain is saying this that Nintendo said but Nintendo themselves haven't come out and said anything regarding voice chat.

[Griever]

You are one of the biggest Nintendo fanboys along with that monkeyman that I have ever seen. No matter what they do; no matter how incompetent, backward, outdated and stubborn they are, you will will always support them. If Nintendo does not includes voice chat then nobody needs it. If they do not have third party support, then nobody needs it. If their console is underpowered then graphics do not matter. A few months ago you people say that Nintendo will NEVER go mobile and when they do, it suddenly becomes the right decision. Have you ever taken a look at yourself and how you sound? Always defensive, always justifying and always compromising. It is like continuing to be in an abused relationship because you have got nowhere else to go so you make up excuses and try to live with it.

The gaming industry has progressed light years since the prime years of Nintendo and there ARE certain standards that need to be met when designing a game from a certain genre. Voice chat is a basic feature of any online cooperative multiplayer game. It is a standard! Please stop living in the 90s with Nintendo and putting up with everything they throw your way.

[TheCommentator]

Thanks, Nintendo!

[jcnba28]

That's a pity, however I'm sure it won't take away the fun factor of the game. Mario Kart 8 doesn't have voice chat during the races and it's still fun as hell.

[etownone]

But.... Just imagine if it did.

And usually (I believe) .... Mario Cart is a game people play together on one TV.

[Toiletsteak]

Good, you won't have to listen to all the squeakers.

[jayzablade]

So I'm not gonna have some 12 year old calling me a fag and saying how he's gonna smash my mother after he's got done 'owning me?!'
How will I ever cope?!

[Lon3wolf]

Shame you can't have party chat, I feel it's must when playing with friends but each to their own.

[G3n3raL86]

Nintendo...

[TRS_Gear]

I play most of my games on my Xbox one over my PS4 for only one reason, I have way more friends on XBL than PSN. Gaming has evolved, its no longer just about sitting by yourself playing a single player game, it has become such a HUGE social experience. I love Nintendo games, and I always get the single player games, had a blast with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, but If Nintendo wants to remain competitive they need to at least provide a comparable experience service wise.

One of my all time favorite games from last generation was Gears of War 2, I think I had forty something days worth of gameplay hours online. I can promise you however, if there was no voice chat available, that number would have dwindled to nearly nothing.

I now, personally, play 85% percent of the games I play for the social experience. I will still buy the game, but I don't foresee me staying with it if this news is true.

[masso9112]

Want a big social exoerience? Go out and meet people... As for video games I prefer a single player game, don't really like playing online that much

[TRS_Gear]

This is a debate way beyond what can be concluded in a discussion on this forum, particularly for two folks with only three bubbles to spare. So with that being said, I will try to be concise and respectful with my point.

I respect that online games aren't preferred by everyone, and agree that there will ALWAYS be triple A single player content. However times are constantly changing, things that were once considered taboo, are now commonplace in our lives. To completely remove the idea that there is a heavy social emphasis on all online components of the world these days would be simply unrealistic and reckless. I have friends from all around the world, some that I have actually met in person after having met them and developed friendships with them online. So for sake of argument, I did in fact "go out and meet people". I meet people everyday in what I do for a living, however when I am online, I am communicating with people who share a very common interest.

To each their own, I just feel not giving the option to communicate with other players in an online shooter is a silly idea.

[Perjoss]

Does not surprise me at all, shooter communities are seriously toxic, full of people that are super racist and sexist (or at least act that way when they can hide behind an avatar). It's much better this way.

A great system for a game like this would be some voice recognition, so you could still speak but the game picks it up and then your chosen character has many pre recorded lines of dialogue that they speak for you based on what you've said. This would ensure that pretty much anyone from any age group could play this game.

[vickers500]

Or they could simply disable voice chat in the game by default, lock it behind parental controls, and make it a feature necessary to activate in the game.

[MilkMan]

Im a long time Nintendo fan and I tell you this is an EPIC FAIL!
I love'em but they got to get with it bro!

[contradictory]

i love Nintendo but why do they keep on making these bizarre as fuck decisions...??

like the whole YouTube monetization bullshit which will take away alot of the free publicity they are getting..

and then shit like not being able to choose the tracks on Mario Kart 8 multiplayer but instead choosing from 3 random tracks for some weird reason...

and the naming conventions of their consoles... like Wii U and NEW 3DS..

Not to mention that they're basically sitting on a pile of money by not releasing more games to the Virtual Console... i don't even...

[jaymacx]

I love nintendo but lets be real for a moment. We all know why there is no voice chat. Nintendo is known for blocking things that could be unsafe for minors. Secondly Nintendo if it had voice chat would then need to be monitored which costs $$$. But you gotta spend money to make money. Voice chat is needed for team based gameplay online. The game looks awesome but this is a missed opportunity.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

No, it's not.
It's really not.
3/4ths of all public online shooter matches that use voice chat, do not see said chat used to act as a team.
It's used to insult and brag and troll. Very rarely, if ever, does it change the outcome of your average round of CoD.XD

[themonado]

@contradictory I'm pretty sure you can only pick from 3 random tracks in Mario Kart 8 because they don't want people spamming a specific course over and over again, but I could be wrong.

[Ck1x]

They definitely dropped the ball on this one! I don't care much for chatting with randoms, but it would have been amazing to offer this feature for people in your friends list.

[Finderskeepers]

This is crazy..I usually rip on Sony fanboys for being loyal to a fault on some issues but here we are nintendo fan boys rationalizing a bad decision. At the very least the should've enabled voice chat between friends.

[Realplaya]

While everyone is complaining on these sites the people who actually went to Washington and played it for 5 hours are not complaining.

Read what IGN has to say as it is not all that bad.

The rich, colorful ink splashed world of Splatoon is only looking better each time we see it. While we can’t help but miss the idea of voice chat during online skirmishes, we have to admit what Nintendo showed us was still incredibly fun. So far Splatoon has the heart, soul, and attention-to-detail signature of Nintendo’s game. And we’re hoping that the upward trajectory for the modes and features of this adorable squid-based shooter continues.

[rawrock]

Hardly anybody chats in Battlefield, TitanFall, or COD on X1 anyways :/

[fatneal]

im not even a big voice chat fan but in 2015 thats just ridiculous....i understand why nintendo holds back...but in the end going forward they have to find a way to make industry standard features like this available so it doesnt put people off...

i really want nintendo to take the next year or so to revamp a lot of things because its annoying sometimes...i dont know anyone with a 3ds so i posted my friend code on miiverse and the mods deleted and gave me a warning...how else am i suppose to find people to play with? just one example of what needs to change imo

[BudokaiGamer]

I'm fine with it. If I'm playing with friends then I'll Skype them. Otherwise I don't want to hear underage kids yelling, cussing, and flinging racial slurs at me just because they're parents are useless.

[gerbwmu]

This is where I hope DeNA can step in. Lets get an app that allows you to chat with anyone on your Wii U / 3DS friend list anytime you like using another smart device. Does that solve random match chatting, NOPE! But it would allow a quick easy way to chat with your friends while gaming and wouldn't put any stress on the game or system. Not a perfect solution but one that would solve some of the "content built for all" perspective that Nintendo takes when designing their products.

I really don't care because I'm never going to use chat in a game anyway....but that is my opinion and having a lack of online chatting will make this game less appealing to some, so if possible, Nintendo should include it.

[Reeze]

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but in one of Gamexplain's videos, text prompts do occasionally appear above players, like "Help!"

Of course, it would be really nice to have the OPTION of voice chat (even though some people, like me, wouldn't use it), because I understand that communication can really help in situations like this. Maybe Nintendo tested it and it didn't work very well with such short matches or something.

I guess there's always Skype for those who really want voice chat.

[randomass171]

Yeah this is a pretty poor decision but it looks like the devs are making some accommodations which is nice.

[jdevcaelistis]

I can't think of a single time I used voice chat for coordination between team members. Honestly I could do without a 10 year olds opinion of my mother. I think that was what nintendo was trying to avoid.

[Big_Game_Hunters]

This is getting pathetic Nintendo.

[quantae06]

As a Nintendo fan I'm disappointed myself. It is ridiculous for them to do this.

[XiMasterChief]

The game is rated E10. Don't be surprised if little kids play. Nintendo is not Sony or MS.

[ZeekQuattro]

Meh. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this gem. I'm not going to shed a tear for lack of voicechat. Would it be nice? Sure but I can live without it 2015 or not.

[Kalebninja]

Nintendo better cut this out come the nx, I love nintendo but they deserve the garbage Wii u sales with stunts like this. Get with the times nintendo and stop restricting your player base.

[saviin]

If you could ping the map with certain commands it would solve most of the problems with no voice chat but I think this game seems too hectic for voice chat.

[DoggyBiscuit]

I'm not surprise

[quantae06]

If Xenoblade X doesn't have voice chat then I'm selling my Wii U. I'm sick of this no voice chat BS. It adds to the experience when you can use voice chat. The Wii U has great games but I need my voice chat.

[Coachkeys]

I stopped caring for voice chat once I realized I was arguing with 12 year olds.. and old men who act like 12 year olds. So meh.

[gangsta_red]

C'mon Nintendo...voice chat.

Not hugely a big deal but I can't even imagine playing Gears, Dying Light or any other multiplayer centric game without voice chat. Especially when with friends.