A number of Apex Legends players have questioned the alteration of voice lines that feature gendered language such as “ladies”, “brothers”, and more, claiming it has been done by Respawn “without any reason”.
Any Apex Legends player will agree that the game’s diverse and personable Legend pool is one of the reasons Respawn’s battle royale works so well.
Each character brings their own personality, charm and charisma to the Apex Games, often poking fun at other Legends and defending their own skills vehemently.
However, in the ongoing Season 15, plenty of players have clocked changes to voice lines in-game which, in general, have removed any gendered terms from Legend vocabularies.
Apex Legends voice lines changed to remove gendered terms
Specifically, Bangalore’s jumpmaster voice line has been changed from “sounding reveille, ladies. I’m the jumpmaster” to “Sounding reveille. I’m the jumpmaster”. Another example includes the now missing line “Oscar Mike, ladies.”
On a similar note, Octane’s voice lines no longer include the word “brother”, while Rampart says “donuts” instead of “guys”.
Plenty of players picked up on the changes, with one saying: “I don’t know why this was changed or if new lines were just added on top, but it feels really weird having all these characters from different backgrounds speak in the same non-gendered kind of language? Really strange change to prioritize if that’s what’s going on.”
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Another commented that it hurts the personality of the affected characters, arguing: “This is rather sad to remove voice lines that actually gave personality to legends and censor them without any reason.”
Others described the change as “easy” and “unobtrusive”, stating that it won’t affect the game’s quality and any change designed to make it more inclusive should be welcomed.
Many also pointed out that it follows the implementation of Catalyst, the game’s first openly transgender Legend. She was, in the words of voice actor Meli Grant, designed to be “inescapably trans.”
It’s possible that Respawn have made the changes to promote inclusivity and avoid alienating players based on gendered language. They have previously collaborated with and consulted GLAAD, a NGO that specialises in LBGT+ inclusion and protection in popular culture.
At the time of writing, Respawn have not commented publicly on the changes.
