Gaming is huge. With more than 2.3 billion gamers worldwide it is the biggest entertainment industry in the world. Women make up approximately half of the gaming community. They are successful in eSports and hold leadership positions in the gaming industry. Despite those facts, while gaming women not only have to fight against their opponents, but also against prejudice and sexist discrimination. As a result, many female gamers not only lose the fun of playing, it also has an impact on their real life with significant psychological consequences. We at Xbox we believe that gaming is for everyone and want to make life more fun for billions of people around the world by creating gaming experiences that everyone can enjoy. That’s why it was important to us to draw attention to this relevant topic and celebrate woman in gaming.

“Gaming for everyone” isn’t just a slogan for us. We stand by our commitment that gaming is a place where everyone is having fun. Therefore, we not only launched a worldwide initiative during Women’s History Month to support and celebrate women in gaming, but also took our most sacred piece of the console – the controller – and made a slight adjustment: by turning it into a statement for equality spread around the globe.

Gamers are very present in the digital world and can be best reached through people they know and look up to, regarding their gaming skills and knowledge. So the PR strategy was centered around using multiplicators that gamers accept and who can also contribute their own experiences regarding the topic of women in gaming – meaning female gaming influencers.

We replaced the controller's “B button” with the “equal symbol" and added a special function: by pressing it, gamers hear inspirational and supportive messages from the most famous and successful women in the gaming industry – including Bonnie Ross, CVP, Founder and Head of 343 Industries; Cantika, one of the most popular Hijab streamers in Southeast Asia with a following of 2.7 million; Helen Chiang ,CVP, Studio Head Minecraft, Mojang Studios; Sarah Bond, CVP, Gaming Ecosystem, Microsoft; and Jennifer Lufau, founder of Afrogameuses, a French non-profit and community advocating diversity and inclusion in gaming.

Their messages give female gamers strength and self-confidence. The limited-edition controller was designed in 10 different special packaging, created by internationally renowned illustrators, and was sent to the world's biggest gaming influencers in 23 countries on 4 continents, giving the message for equality the reach it deserves.

The Equality Controller was limited to 100 pieces, all of which were sent to influential and supportive female gamers in 23 countries in 4 continents. In unboxing videos and reviews, they introduced their followers to the Equality Controller and the idea behind it, talked about their own, very personal experiences with sexism in gaming and encouraged female gamers around the world. Important and influential specialist media took up the topic and reported on it. With 100+ million contacts, 90+ million send outs in the form of wallpapers and gamer themes and an increase in search queries by 1500% (#womeningaming or #gamingforeveryone), we brought the topic to the public's attention and made women in gaming more visible.