To celebrate Pride Month, Xbox is releasing a brand new controller design that incorporates 34 community flags.
The flags are in “a fine, interwoven manner to celebrate the nuance, complexity, intersectionality, and strength of the many LGBTQIA+ communities”, explains an Xbox Wire post.
Last year, Xbox created a limited number of Pride controllers but many players wanted it to be universally available. This year’s controller will therefore be customisable in the Xbox Design Lab.
“But this isn’t just a controller. It’s a symbol of the LGBTQIA+ communities that inspired it, and a call to continue efforts toward inclusion and representation across all gaming spaces,” reads the post.
The controller will be available from 9th June via Xbox Design Lab. But Xbox has other Pride celebrations planned too.
If a controller wasn’t enough, there’s also a Pride merch collection of apparel available from the Xbox Gear Shop.
Microsoft will be donating $170,000 to LGBTQIA+ nonprofits OutRight Action International, African Rainbow Family, National Center for Transgender Equality, Mermaids, Lavender Rights Project and Fulcrum UA “to help in the fight for LGBTQIA+ equity and equality”.
Microsoft Rewards members in the US and UK can also earn and donate points to organisations supporting LGBTQIA+ communities: Mermaids, OutRight Action International, and The National Center for Transgender Equality.
On the community side, stories about representation in gaming from LGBTQIA+ Xbox Ambassadors will be spotlighted and Xbox Plays will be dedicating its livestreams to LGBTQIA+ streamers on Twitch.
Dontnod’s award-winning narrative game Tell Me Why will be free on Xbox consoles and PC for June, plus the post highlights other LGBTQIA+ games.
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