I can go without game chat, but if there's other nice people online, game chat can turn a good gaming into a great one. This shows, nintendo thinks that their customers aren't mature enough, and when they do have a chance complain in the media that they are wrongly called "kids console company"... There's irony here...

It's a nintendo system. My friends would be sitting next to me XD

Yeah I don't get why people are in such a tizzy over this, I use skype, G+/G hangouts along with other voip software and I've had no issues talking to friends online that way, anyone who doesn't use skype/voip software is just behind on the tiems or is living under a rock, hell my damn 2012 Nexus 7 has skype installed so I can call anyone anywhere in my house so it;s not a desktop being stuck in one room issue, skype is available on mobiles as well and it's free when you call others so I don't see any issues there.

Also I've hardly seen parents use parental tools either, there needs to be ome sort of survey to full get such data to find out how well and how deep they use the controls given to them.

At the end of the day though it's not going to kill the game, those that want to communicate should reach out via other means and with your already existing friends there is skype and other software.

I think that using the "toxicity" excuse is only PR bullshit as there can be options to turn off voice chat as seen in similar games.

In my opinion, they don't use voice chat because the Wii U hasn't got the hardware dedicated to that functionality. A bit like PS3 where devs had to use some of their game memory to enable voice chat in some games so it wasn't present in many MP games on PS3 contrary to X360 that had OS dedicated memory to do that.

It reminds me Mario Kart 8 on Wii U too, in the single player mode, that has to use one whole frame time every second to process the AI of the CPU players resulting in a constant micro stutter (because 2 identical consecutive frames) roughly every second.

IMO, it's a terrible decision to cut out voice chat completely from the game. If you have these concerns about it, then provide options that limit voice chat. Have muting options, or have it turned off by default. Only have it available for 18+ gamers, or locked with parental controls. Or, only makke it availble to chat with friends. But don't cut it out completely. This is a standard feature it just about all online games these days.

I have a feeling this came up in a lot of their development meetings:

This is outrageous. Voice communications have always represented all that is good about online multiplayer.

Mutual respect, sportsmanship, sharing of friendly advice and constructive criticism. All of this is furthered by voice communications - and all of this characterizes the online environment that we have gotten used to when friends and people of different backgrounds and nationalities come together to enjoy competitive multiplayer matches.

For Nintendo to deny us this experience on their platforms it must take an innumerable degree of contempt for all that is new and different from what they themselves are accustomed to. Truly, what we have before us is the display of the pinnacle of arrogance.

Another example of Nintendo being completely out of touch with today's standards.

While I understand the decision, I think that they should have included, at least, voice chat with friends.

Competitive multiplayer and Nintendo consoles never mixed well. Their timeless classics are mainly a solo venture or with friends in the same room.

I wonder the same thing. They did it with Mario Kart right? It doesn´t make sense not implementing it  in Splatoon.

For me, the lack of voice chat is no big deal.  I never use it. I may use skype or any other tool to chat with them thought the PC, if really necessary. Still, I do think this was a huge mistake. This  is a team game, and communication between members is essential.