Just hours after hosting its annual “Women in Gaming” luncheon at the 2016 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft MSFT -2.21% threw a party at a local club that featured half-naked dancing girls on raised platforms. Understandably, this is problematic for the maker of the Xbox.
The games industry has been under scrutiny lately as more and more women gamers have been calling it out on blatant sexism. New research show that the majority of video game players may well be women, yet the games themselves are still seemingly targeted at teenage boys. Female characters – especially in fantasy games – are traditionally clothed in next-to-nothing attire while the male characters are generally covered completely.
That has been changing recently, which is a good thing. 2013’s Rise of the Tomb Raider features its headline character Lara Croft in a sensible jacket and khakis outfit, a far different outfit from the revealing tank-top and short-shorts she was known for.
This is the way the industry should be going, and not just for moral reasons; many women are turned off by the prevalent sexism and thus don’t game. There’s money to be made by not putting off would-be gamers, and most of the industry seems to have figured that out.
That’s why it’s so odd that Microsoft would reverse course and feature scantily-clad go-go dancers at an event that’s supposed to be something of a safe place for all types of gamers.
Developer Kamina Vincent let her disgust be known on her twitter feed, (warning, there’s some not-safe-for-everyone language beyond that link,) and she’s right: “I like dancing, I like talking to devs. But not at this #GDC16 party. Thanks for pushing me out of this party, Microsoft.”
For its part, Microsoft has reached out and has apologized. A spokesperson sent me this quote from Xbox leader Phil Spencer:
At Xbox-hosted events at GDC this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was not consistent or aligned to our values. It was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated. I know we disappointed many people and I’m personally committed to holding ourselves to higher standards. We must ensure that diversity and inclusion are central to our everyday business and core values. We will do better in the future.
I asked if the dancers were hired by Microsoft itself or a contractor, or even perhaps the venue, but was told “we have nothing further to share here.”
That said, I found two sources inside Microsoft told me that, in no uncertain terms, “everyone is pissed off.” He points out that Microsoft can’t exactly push for inclusiveness while at the same time hiring “strippers” for a Microsoft-sponsored party, which, of course, is right.
One of the sources — a full time employee in another division — says that “heads will likely roll” and that it’s being handled “near or at the top”. It’s good to know that Microsoft taking this seriously, but one can never put the toothpaste back into the tube, as the saying goes.
As an industry, most tech companies have long since abandoned the practice of hiring “booth babes” at conventions, though some still do. While that’s a problem, it’s an even bigger one when one of the largest corporations — and biggest cheerleaders for inclusiveness — on earth does the something like this. Hopefully Microsoft has learned its lesson on this and, more importantly, that the rest of the industry has as well.
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