At Xbox, we believe that gaming is for everyone.

We strive to be inclusive by welcoming all people to our community and create a place where everyone can play free from fear and intimidation. We want to make life more fun for billions of people around the world by creating gaming experiences that everyone can enjoy. Because when everyone plays, we all win.

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.

We wanted to show that “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.

The Equality Controller stands for the support women in gaming have for each other. That’s why we sent it to the most influential and supportive women in 23 countries who are role models for all the female gamers around the world. With the messages on the controller we give them strength and support them to be living examples of what self-confidence, belief and pride can do.

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 8 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 came in four different designed packaging boxes and 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 special illustrated 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.