Call of Duty is one of the biggest game franchises in the world, and its developers and publisher Activision have made strides recently in accessibility — ensuring that as many people can play the games as possible. GamesBeat got a chance to speak with several members of the development teams for Global Accessibility Awareness Day about how they’ve developed and launched the multiple in-game accessibility settings.
Accessibility features are a collection of in-game settings designed to make that particular video game playable by as many people as possible. They can range from the general changes, such as subtitles and field-of-view sliders; to full overhauls such as audio descriptions and gameplay skip options. In recent years, the games industry has taken more notice of these features’ creation and deployment, especially as they’ve become more granular and sophisticated.
In speaking with Call of Duty developers on accessibility features, the general theme of the answers was that their creation springs from a combination of in-house research and player feedback. Christian Auger-Morin, senior system designer at Beenox, said that the development process begins early, even before the specific features are delineated. “‘Accessibility by design is where we try to make sure that the baseline design of the feature is accessible … and identify barriers early on and try to address those right from the start.”
I asked the developers how they defined accessibility, and Francesco Galletti, senior software engineer at Raven, said, “For me, accessibility starts with listening – putting ourselves in players’ shoes and asking, “What stands in their way of enjoying every moment in Warzone?” It’s a journey rather than a checkbox: every new feature, setting, or tweak is another step toward making the game feel natural and intuitive for more people.”
Giving the players what they need
Some of the recently launched accessibility features include asymmetrical hearing compensation, high contrast settings and arachnophobia mode. Players can also customize their HUDs to make the games more playable. Other features are designed to make the game more playable for those with visual and hearing impairments, as well as motor difficulties.
Varun Sharma, associate director of online engineering at Treyarch, spearheaded the development and launch of the asymmetrical hearing compensation due to his own hearing loss. He and a team created the original feature during an in-house game jam. “You need to be able to educate people about the fact that this is an issue and then come up with some ideas on how perhaps this could be integrated into the game. Generally, nobody says it’s a bad idea to add an accessibility feature. In general people agree that yes, we should be doing this. They just don’t know it’s a problem or they don’t know how to fix it.”
Multiple developers mentioned the Stick Deadzone feature, which allows users to customize their controller’s sticks so that they don’t have to use as much physical movement in order to deliver the input they need. This feature is also part of a “Low Motor Strain” accessibility preset that rolled out in 2023, alongside updated menus that make features easier to find — helpful for everyone, as the developers agreed.
Auger-Morin added, “Features that we think are going to be specifically for one audience end up being useful to another, and sometimes our players will surprise us with requests we would have never thought of really having. Their perspective is really precious and having their unique point of view is extremely helpful… If a feature is making the game more comfortable and if it’s making the game more suited to your needs and your limitations, then it’s increasing accessibility.”
What’s a “normal” gamer, anyway?
Accessibility has become a baton taken up by most major developers. Today, Xbox also celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day by highlighting features available in its own games. The Entertainment Software Association also launched a new initiative at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference called the Accessible Games Initiative, which provides an easy-to-understand framework for players to find certain features in their games.
All of the developers interviewed agreed on one thing — accessibility features are not just for those with disabilities or impairments. Almost every player can get something out of the accessibility menus. Galletti noted, “Millions of players have used settings to customize and improve their gameplay experience, like reduce camera shake or customize deadzone inputs. Ultimately, making Call of Duty more accessible means more people can jump in, stick around, and feel confident playing their best game.”
Sharma added, “100% of people use automatic reload because the game just works that way. It reloads automatically and maybe you don’t think about it as an accessibility feature, but it’s one less button to press. It’s one less thing to think about, and if you have a disability that makes this hard for you. That’s just something you wouldn’t think about, but maybe you even prefer Call of Duty over other games because of the automatic reload.”
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