Splatoon is a multiplayer shooter game on the Wii U primarily aimed at younger aged people; the aim is to spread as much ink as possible using the ink guns and the team with the more coverage wins. Unlike most other multiplayer games of it’s genre, Splatoon will not have a voice chat in place.
Co-director of the game, Yusuke Amano, told Edge the online UK based gaming magazine that the game does not have and never will have a voice chat. The main influence for this decision is that most shooter multiplayers have a ‘negative’ chat which is something the developers do not want to come to Splatoon as they believe it can ruin a players enjoyment of the game.
“When I played online games, I didn’t like the negativity I got and people telling me, ‘You’re crap. Go away,'” Amano said. “So we wanted to focus on the positive aspects of online gaming.”
Very few Nintendo games actually have a voice chat function; this includes 2 games for the Nintendo DS being Pokemon Diamond and Pearl as well as a first-person shooter, Metroid Prime: Hunter. Recently however Mario Kart 8 also has some voice chat features however it is very limited and is not active during the match itself.
Players who want to have voice communication in game will need to outsource a voice chat system for the game; the lack of an in-game voice chat or general lack of voice chat support will make getting a competitive scene for the game difficult and more serious players may not consider it playing.
Splatoon is due for release this year on the 29th of May and the official website is now up and running. Nintendo has previously confirmed there will be some amiibo support providing players with special challenges and exclusive gear only for the amiibo users.