Call of Duty: Vanguard

Between Diverse Industry and Game Characters: An Analysis of Tool-based Representation Design

The analysis examines the King's Diversity Space (KDS) tool, a collaborative effort between King, Activision Blizzard, and the MIT Game Lab, intended to foster inclusive character design within the global games industry.

• The King's Diversity Space (KDS) was a web-based inclusive character creation tool developed through a collaboration between King, Activision Blizzard, and the MIT Game Lab, with characters tied to Overwatch 2.
• The tool was conceived as an iterative design aid rather than a measurement instrument, but Activision Blizzard's promotional framing presented it as a quantifiable solution to representation, a mismatch the authors argue cost the research team ownership, access, and influence over the project.
• Interview evidence surfaces corporate culture problems, the departure of marginalized contributors, and the eventual inaccessibility of the tool, which the authors read as structural rather than incidental obstacles to inclusive design work.