What you need to know
- The latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 intel drop shares insight into the innovations to the game’s sound from Treyarch Software’s audio team.
- New spatial reverb will affect the game’s audio scape, with footsteps echoing down long hallways and gunshots and grenades realistically filling the space around a player.
- The audio for Black Ops 6 was developed in partnership with Microsoft’s Project Acoustics system.
- Project Acoustics is a physics-based acoustics model that replicates the complex wave physics of sound in 3D game environments, without requiring manual tricks.
- To enhance the game’s audio further, Black Ops 6 will also include an enhanced headphone mode, more accessibility options, and live mixing.
As an analyst with over two decades of experience in the gaming industry, I must say that the latest developments in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s audio design are nothing short of impressive. Having seen the evolution of game soundscapes from the days of 8-bit beeps and boops to the immersive, dynamic environments we have today, it’s clear that Treyarch has raised the bar yet again.
Call of Duty is primarily a game that emphasizes sound over visuals. This yearly first-person shooter series published by Activision (which is now owned by Microsoft) tends to favor an arcade style of play rather than the more tactical and realistic approach found in similar games. Nonetheless, it’s crucial for players to catch important audio signals while engaging in Multiplayer or the free-to-play spin-off, Call of Duty: Warzone, as these sounds provide vital information about gameplay.
A recent blog post from the Call of Duty team takes a closer look at the audio development for Black Ops 6 ahead of the game’s October 25 release date.
The audio team for Treyarch’s latest project, Black Ops 6, is helmed by Lead Audio Designer Collin Ayers, a veteran with 18 years at Treyarch Studios, and Expert Audio Engineer William Cornell, boasting 9 years of experience at the studio. They have collaborated on numerous Call of Duty games, amassing various awards that complement their extensive fieldwork. According to Ayers, the objective for the audio team in Black Ops 6 is what they’re terming an “adaptive battlefield,” which emphasizes a more deliberate and directional sound environment that prioritizes essential information for players at the right moments while minimizing unnecessary noise.
To develop an innovative acoustic landscape for the game, the team needed to record fresh sound effects for each weapon and revamp existing ones. The audio needed to go beyond just mimicking a shooting game; it had to feel like one, providing players with crucial information during intense combat situations. From discerning the direction, distance, and potential danger level of distant gunfire and explosions, Black Ops 6 aimed to create an immersive experience that allowed players to strategize effectively against approaching enemies.
In Cornell’s words, “The area around [players] will be filled with authentic gunfire and explosions,” he stated. “You’ll hear footsteps reverberate in long corridors, while raindrops and chirping crickets seep in through open windows and damaged walls.” To achieve this, Cornell, Ayer, and the Treyarch audio team collaborated with Microsoft’s Project Acoustics system. This audio tool was developed using research on sound engineering during the production of Gears of War 5, and it leverages Azure batch and other Microsoft technologies to generate immersive sound effects that adapt to the environment’s layout in the cloud.
Project Acoustics enhances the audio in Black Ops 6 to create a more responsive and immersive experience. For instance, snow can muffle footstep sounds while gunfire echoes off forest trees as they cause the sound to bounce and reverberate. In other words, we’ve been collaborating closely with the Project Acoustics team to replicate how soundwaves travel and interact with their surroundings, taking into account factors such as materials, room size, shape, and the path the sound takes from its origin to your ears. (Cornell)
With an emphasis on hearing, greater accessibility in Call of Duty for those who are hard of hearing becomes more important. Black Ops 6 will further build on Call of Duty’s ongoing accessibility efforts by introducing Asymmetrical Hearing Compensation and Reduce Tinnitus Sound features at launch. Asymmetrical Hearing Loss is a condition in which a person experiences different degrees of hearing loss in each ear, which can make localizing audio in a 3D space more difficult. Black Ops 6’s compensation will adjust the intensity of selected frequencies in each ear to balance the sound in a way that makes it more symmetrical to the user. It can also adjust the loudness of frequencies that users may find uncomfortable to hear.
Tinnitus, also known as ear-ringing, is a frequent hearing issue where sounds are perceived without an external source. These sounds can become bothersome when they match specific frequencies with other surrounding noises. In games like Call of Duty, explosions such as flash and concussion grenades often emit sounds similar to real-life tinnitus. For individuals who already struggle with this condition, these simulations can be intolerable. However, the latest update in Black Ops 6 will switch out the Tinnitus sound in the game with a softer audio signal instead.
Of course, some audio is more important than other sounds when you are face-to-face with the opposing team in Call of Duty. Black Ops 6 will prioritize and emphasize important sounds to the player dynamically. This new live mixing system gives players greater insight into their situation. A zombie is a more imminent threat than your teammates chattering, so the zombie’s audio is going to be louder to instill that sense of urgency in the player. This is compounded by advancements in Head Related Transfer Function technology that simulates how game sound is transferred to the player.
In Black Ops 6, the advanced headphone mode leverages Embody’s Immerse Spatial Audio technology to deliver precise directional sound in games. This technology is compatible with all types of headphones and earbuds, and even includes a unique Universal HRTF profile tailored for Call of Duty’s sound environment. For dedicated FPS audio enthusiasts, there’s an option to create a personalized profile that factors in individual physical attributes such as head size and ear placement, ensuring a customized listening experience.
Instead of being exclusive to Black Ops 6, the latest audio enhancements encompass all Call of Duty titles since they’re now unified under the same game engine. This means that adjustments made to premium games like Black Ops 6 will impact Call of Duty: Warzone as well. However, Warzone players must be patient until the integration with Black Ops occurs during Season 1’s launch in early November for these changes to reflect in their free-to-play Battle Royale experience.
On October 25, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released for play on Xbox, PC platforms like Steam, Battle.net, the Microsoft Store, and PlayStation. For Xbox Game Pass subscribers with storage concerns, you can choose to play Black Ops 6 using Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meanwhile, PC players have the option of streaming Black Ops 6 through NVIDIA GeForce NOW.
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2024-10-14 21:09