Splatoon Won’t Have Online Voice Chat, Because Nintendo

We've got some bad news for those hoping to coordinate their paint-fueled attacks in Splatoon. Nintendo will not be implementing voice chat in its online modes, NintendoEverything reports.

So far, Splatoon has billed itself as a shooter that hinges on good teamwork for success, so the inability to talk to teammates in-game will definitely make that teamwork harder to create without external programs like Skype or Google Hangout. Splatoon creator Yusuke Amano certainly has his reasons for the decision, however.

"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," Amano said to Edge Magazine. "I don't want you to misunderstand — I'm not denying having chat in an online game does contribute to fun. But, as we've said, we want to grab new people."

Amano absolutely has the best of intentions, and Nintendo has always and will always push a family-friendly atmosphere above everything else, but keeping things safe is going to end up hurting Splatoon's chances at becoming a major online force in the long run. Any competitive Splatoon leagues that may have been in the planning stages now have a major roadblock in their midst, especially for online leagues, and that's not the best way to cultivate and grow an online base. Let's hope NIntendo figures out a future patch, or else we may stick to free-for-all matches.

This is why the Wii U needs an online party chat system for people on your friends list (more like your Nintendo ID list, but you know what we mean).

Splatoon launches exclusively for Wii U on May 29.