“What I see now is an industry that is willing to self reflect and make changes, they want to diversify, they want to see representation in games, and they want to be inclusive, they want to be accessible. I feel that as an industry that we’ve evolved, like this idea of gaming for good. Really thinking about our audience and our players and trying to get as many players into our games, giving them the opportunity to play the things that we’ve worked so hard to build and make. That’s what I love about what we do.” A PLAYGROUND FOR ALL It’s still early days for Women of Xbox, but the very fact that Microsoft has chosen to champion what could have been a wholly inward-looking
initiative is very promising. So what does the organisation have planned? “The initial idea was that we really wanted to do an event and have people come and meet up. But obviously we can’t do that,” explains O’Connor. “So instead we’ve decided to start with a series of videos, letting the Women of Xbox talk openly about their industry, with the first being, naturally, how they got started in games. “We wanted it to feel like a panel discussion. So we’ve got a group of women from across the studios, from a variety of different disciplines, and all at different levels, who have come into the industry in lots of different ways. “And they are just talking about their own experiences getting into the industry and
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