Activision Blizzard announced last week that it’s working with AbleGamers on a new fundraiser. The company has opened a sweepstakes where participants are eligible to win special prizes, including special trips to Treyarch’s and Blizzard’s studios, while all funds go to AbleGamers’ mission. The campaign is open right now, and runs through May 10.
The two entities have collaborated on three different experiences: One for Call of Duty, one for Diablo and one for World of Warcraft. All three offer different prize pools, though the top prize for each one is a trip to tour the development studio (Treyarch for Call of Duty; Blizzard for Diablo and WoW) with paid hotel stay and round-trip tickets. Other prizes include a custom-made Ghost mask, a signed Dragonflight collector’s edition and a Diablo IV x Hot Ones hot sauce bottle (called “Lilith’s Hatred”).
The sweepstakes also promotes AbleGamers’ mission of combatting social isolation with games. The charity says on the fundraisers’ page: “We empower people with disabilities to forge meaningful connections that aren’t confined by their geographic location or abilities.”
Activision Blizzard also praised AbleGamers efforts in the game design space in its announcement post: “Inclusive game design is a key pillar throughout our organization because we know that we have a responsibility to create worlds where everyone can feel welcome and play their way… Through its [Accessible Player Experiences] training, AbleGamers has equipped Activision Blizzard developers with the knowledge and resources to develop more accessible games.”
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Activision Blizzard and inclusive game design
GamesBeat spoke with Adrian Ledda, Activision’s head of inclusive game design, on the AbleGamers fundraiser as well as the company’s own efforts in the accessibility space. Ledda told GamesBeat about the company’s history with AbleGamers and how its Accessible Player Experiences (APX) training has helped its team. Ledda noted that the company’s various games have different accessibility needs.
Ledda recounts the first time the two collaborated: “In 2020, we conducted our first accessible player training (APX) with AbleGamers. What was originally supposed to be an on-site training for APX certification became a virtual course due to the pandemic and was a test case for AbleGamers to conduct this training virtually. Since then, our game teams have steadily embedded more and more developers on their teams that are certified in the AbleGamers training, and they are equipped to bring accessibility-minded design to all of our games.”
Ledda told GamesBeat that the game’s developers work closely with his team: “The inclusive game design team partners with our game developers to provide resources and opportunities for them to think about how to make their game more inclusive and accessible. That means that we place trust in the creative vision of our developers to best know how to make a game more accessible and inclusive — and we support them through education, learning sessions, interactive workshops, and general consultation.”
The developers at Activision Blizzard prioritize accessibility from the start of the process, says Ledda, adding that the company has put together multiple resources. “We launched an inclusive game design council which allows us to bring more expertise and resources to support our teams as they’re creating new features, characters, and storylines. This council includes organizations like AbleGamers, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and Center for Scholars and Storytellers.”
Activision Blizzard’s games now feature multiple accessibility features for players who have hearing loss, those who are blind or have low vision, and those who are sensitive to certain sights and visuals, says Ledda. He notes that there’s also an increase in representation of disabilities and accessible features in the games industry: “All of this is from a mix of awareness, education, and empathy that our game developers share with AbleGamers and their mission… I believe that this increase in the visibility of the topic is driven by increased awareness of accessibility, and an acknowledgment of how accessible design is simply just good design.”