When it comes to games with a major online presence in its core game it seems that the ability to communicate with other players has become a necessary stable of the industry which players thrive on. This is even more the case when it comes to team based online games, in order to get the best out of the team players thrive on being able to communicate plans and send the team on the most strategic paths. For me I am sure this is what many hoped to do with Nintendo’s upcoming game Splatoon which features quite an online presence in its core game. However people looking forward to the upcoming shooter were saddened by the news that Splatoon would not feature any kind of voice chat options making the team based playstyle of the game less of a team game and more of a solo game. But the big question many asked is why has Nintendo opted to not bring voice chat to the game, a question that Splatoon’s co-director Yusuke Amano answered referencing his own personal experience with voice chat:
“This is coming from personal experience. When I played online games, I didn’t like the negativity I got and people telling me ‘You’re crap. Go away’. So we wanted to focus on the positive aspects of online gaming. [We’re] not saying that chat in an online game can’t contribute to fun but [we] want to grab new players.”
