Warzone Dev Pinpoints Why Console FOV Slider Isn't Coming

The communication between the Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific developers and its community has been refreshingly impressive in recent weeks, with players even getting a rundown on why a console field of view (FOV) slider remains a pipe dream.

In addition to explaining to OpTic TeeP just days ago why Warzone can't have a larger map rotation, Activision Creative Lead Josh Bridge joined FaZe Swagg on stream to answer some more burning questions. Aside from dropping some major intel, including confirming that the devs are looking to add a ranked mode, Bridge elaborated on exactly why adding a console FOV slider to Warzone would be an issue.

"I know we have that option obviously for PC players," Bridge said to FaZe Swagg. "The challenge that we've had is that when we look at just the sheer performance [demands] of Warzone, we still have a very large portion of our players coming in on previous-gen consoles. And so we're like, OK, we started doing some testing and if we allow it, then it’s like a slider to lower your frame rate and actually introduce potential bugs and crashes."

Bridge went on to explain that a console FOV slider would deteriorate performance and introduce isolated synchronization and crashing problems for those on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Back in February, the devs first revealed that "adding FOV on console in Warzone creates major performance impacts for old-gen console players."

"So when we looked at that, we were like, 'Oh, well if we just allow it on next-gen consoles,' the concern we have is that it keeps further widening the skill gap. It’s hard to dispute, for us at least, it’s hard to dispute that a wider FOV allows for seeing more, and if a larger proportion of our audience is on last-gen, and they’re at a detriment now, and then everyone else is cranked — I just worry that we’re going to make it even more toxic of an experience."

Of course, the topic is still pretty iffy considering PC players have the FOV slider advantage, but it seems the devs would rather keep things as is than further alienate and divide the player base depending on their platform of choice, fair or not.

Shortly after, Raven Software Senior Creative Director Ted Timmons also chimed in to explain that a console FOV slider is something that players probably should only expect to see in a Warzone sequel.

"When you think about where we are now, there's these really big things right?" Timmons said to FaZe Swagg. "You just picked all the three big ones right? It's ranked, it's FOV and it's map rotation. So we think right now, we're not in a position where we can deliver on all of those, so what are the things we can deliver on and how can we maximize all of the little things that really add up."

Ultimately, this should clear up where the devs are coming from in terms of meeting community requests and just how limited the current Warzone title is in terms of adding major features to it. For now, expect to see more polishing up and tightening up of quality-of-life changes from the devs.

For more on Call of Duty, check out our timeline on the history of the Call of Duty franchise!