Activision has released a statement regarding the lack of subtitles during cutscene sequences in Spyro Reignited Trilogy, an omission which greatly impacts accessibility for players who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Accessibility in games is important, and developers should be aware of the resources at their disposal in order to make sure all players are included.
The studio may want to look at how Microsoft worked with accessibility advocates in the future when considering a patch to include subtitles.
First noticed by GamePitt, Spyro 2 and Spyro 3 both feature general subtitles, but when the player enters a pre-rendered cutscene they vanish.
GamePitt reached out to Activision and Toys for Bob (of Skylanders fame) regarding the issue and received a statement from an Activision spokesperson.
"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 localized in languages that had not previously been attempted by the studio," the statement reads.
"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."
A few developers have chimed in on the matter, noting that nothing in game development is easy, especially when it comes to implementing subtitles. However, it seems pretty clear that game development is all about solving tough problems, and that includes ones around accessibility too.