Call of Duty: Vanguardis, unsurprisingly, shaping up to be one of the biggest titles of the holiday season, and for good reason. Many fan-favorite features will be included: Treyarch will be continuing the exciting newstoryline set up inCold War’s Zombies mode, and the game is even running on the excellentCall of Duty: Modern Warfare2019 engine so that the transition toWarzoneis seamless. The campaign mode this time around will even feature four different protagonists, each on major fronts of World War 2: Eastern, Western, North African, and Pacific. However, one of these four marks a historic moment for the first-person shooter series: the first female protagonist.
Given the alleged yet despicable actions that many developers and high-ranking males of Activision Blizzard have committed against its female employees, outlined in an ongoing lawsuit, it’s a very odd moment for many within theCall of Duty: Vanguardcommunity. On one hand, many rightly want to celebrate that Polina Petrova, who is based on the real-life Lyudmila Pavlichenko, can have her story told to a larger audience than she could likely imagine. On the other hand, so many women employed at Activision Blizzard have been unable to tell their stories of abuse and harassment. These allegations, combined with very little public communication from Activision Blizzard, turn this positive news about the protagonist into little more than performative social justice without any action or promise to be better.
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The Repetitive History of Abuse Against Women
In 2018,Call of Duty’s main competitor,Battlefield 5, released a trailer for its upcoming World War 2 shooter. In the trailer, diverse women were featured prominently. This was such a highlight that some gamers createdthe #NotMyBattlefield hashtagand got it trending on Twitter. It’s worth noting that those who partook in that hashtag are likely part of the hivemind not taking the Activision Blizzard lawsuit very seriously. These folks have vehemently argued that this amount of women in their video games was simply unacceptable. A similar debate arose after previous trailers ofHorizon Forbidden Westdebuted, and some male gamers got up in arms about Aloy’s appearance.
However, publisher EA and developers DICE did not back down about this act of inclusion while incurring related controversies. As a result, many continued to accuse the developers of being performative and including women just because it would make the company look good. This is all happening shortly after the recent waves of the #MeToo movement began to gain a lot of traction and widespread support, so it isn’t completely unheard of that the developers made this decision to pander to supporters of this movement. As businesses, EA and DICE have every right to make decisions and market its product however it thinks will score the most profits. But this unethical practice highlights that there has been and will continue to be a track record of men calling outwomen being featured in video games as unwanted.
What’s Different About Activision Blizzard’s Case?
The landscape in 2021 is very different than it was in 2018, both for developers and the community. It has now long since been established and accepted that many women were participating in warfare during the 1940s. This time, the main difference is not down to ill-conceived notions of historical accuracy, but rather blatant hypocrisy from Activision Blizzard itself. Betwixt all thecontroversial things EA has doneover the years such as the loot box gambling debacle, it has also similarly seen sexual assault allegations, resulting in the cutting of ties between the company and Chris Avellone.
The leading question here is how canActivision Blizzard claim to support womenlike Lyudmila Pavlichenko telling their stories in video games when the company is a hostile work environment for women? Not to mention how many titles Activision has released without women in leading roles. It seems that those higher up on the totem pole have decided to push this female angle as damage control; it’s likely no accident that the Activision name was absent from theCall of Duty: Vanguardreveal trailer while developer Sledgehammer’s name appeared.
It is good news thatCall of Duty: Vanguardwill have a female protagonist, and it is great that all these brave women at Activision Blizzard have come forward with their stories about the men that lead the company. But things get even more suspicious once the timeline ofCall of Duty: Vanguardis considered. Though Laura Bailey must have been working with Sledgehammer in her role of Lt. Petrova for some time now, it’s only after the lawsuit has commenced and the public has outcried at these allegations is she given this spotlight, clueing viewers in on the priorities of the company. This’frat boy' culture within all gaming studios, not just Activision Blizzard, can only end once women are given a similar spotlight as higher roles and equality within administration, not just making up one-fourth of a AAA game’s protagonists.
Call of Duty: Vanguardis out November 5th, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
