'Overwatch' Team 'Passionate' About Adding Subtitle Support, Kaplan Promises

In an ancient post on the official Overwatch forums titled simply “I’m Deaf,” user ChaosProz made a case for providing subtitle support not only in Overwatch, but also in the Overwatch short films as well.

ChaosProz wrote:

“I know some of you guys may think it is distracting, but it brings a viable information, for instance, a character might say "There's a turret over there." Or "There's a teleport over there"... How would deaf people know?

Maybe it would be nice to incorporate voice line subtitles into Chat window. I am not saying we should have "footsteps" notification, most of the deaf/hard of hearing community relies visual elements and notifications in the game.”

The thread also asked: “Speaking of subtitles, there aren't any subtitles or closed captioned for all Overwatch short animated films, why is this?”

For my money, ChaosProz makes a great point. Many users also agreed with the suggestion, though some offered refinements such as a toggle for voice lines in case of spam; others wondered why subtitle support was not already an option. (The Overwatch short films lacking subtitles is an astonishing oversight.)

Although I’m not deaf, I have a harder time processing aural information than written information. To compensate, I watch/play everything with subtitles if I have the opportunity. I mention this only as an example for how subtitle support is widely useful even if you aren’t deaf or hearing-impaired. More than one user commented that they would enable subtitles if only to make sure they didn’t miss something.

Then Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan came through to comment:

“Uprising is the first event to support subtitles. We now have some of the underlying tech and systems in place to proliferate subtitle support to other parts of the game. The team is very passionate about adding subtitle support.”

It’s good to know that subtitle support is on the Overwatch team’s radar. It might be hard to put aural information such as footsteps approaching from the left or right side into subtitle format (these audio tricks help players distinguish whether a heavy character like Bastion is tromping behind them or a light-footed speedster like Tracer is approaching). However, simple things like Ultimate lines, fun voice lines at the start of play and comments about the enemy team having a teleporter offer important information and should definitely be subtitled.

While Kaplan’s comment didn’t provide any kind of release window, at least we know that subtitles are in progress and en route.

Will you play Overwatch with subtitles? What are your thoughts? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.