Subtitles have been added to Spyro Reignited Trilogy via latest console patch

Four months after Activision insisted Spyro Reignited Trilogy did not include subtitled cutscenes for deaf and hard-of-hearing players because there was "no industry standard for subtitles", subtitles for "all languages" have finally been added via a new patch.

"When Toys For Bob set out to make an awesome game collection, there were certain decisions that needed to be made throughout the process," Activision said following a backlash from the community and industry alike last November. "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. 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."

"It absolutely is an industry standard, Activision’s statement is simply incorrect," countered accessibility specialist Ian Hamilton at the time. "It doesn’t have to be a legal or cert requirement for it to be standard. We’re in 2018 not 1998, the entire industry voluntarily including subtitles means including them is an industry standard."

"The uproar over lack of subtitles in the first Assassin’s Creed game back in 2007 resulted in Ubisoft introducing a publisher level certification requirement requiring all Ubi games to have subtitles. I hope Activision can take the current uproar as a cue to implement the same."

In its patch notes (thanks, VG24/7), the publisher said it had "added subtitles in all languages for all three games", including character headers to identify active speakers, "succinct line" splits for readability, as well as coloured text for "improved character association in most languages".

Subtitles can be toggled on and off via the options menu.