En fest der blev afholdt af Microsoft ved dette års GDC har skabt stor røre, efter dem der har stået for organiseringen af begivenheden placerede kvindelige danserinde på podier i upassende beklædning.
Denne form for udstilling af kvinder plejede at være ganske almindelige i branchen, men på det seneste er det gået den anden vej. Før i tiden benyttede firmaer de såkaldte "booth babes" til at drage opmærksomhed til specifikke produkter, men denne form for marketingstaktik benyttes ikke lige så hyppigt.
Det lader Microsoft dog til at have misforstået, og derfor har de gjort firmaet til grin. Xbox-chefen Phil Spencer har derfor udsendt en officiel undskyldning:
"It has come to my attention that at Xbox-hosted events at GDC this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was absolutely not consistent or aligned to our values. That was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated. This matter is being handled internally, but let me be very clear - how we represent ourselves as individuals, who we hire and partner with and how we engage with others is a direct reflection of our brand and what we stand for. When we do the opposite, and create an environment that alienates or offends any group, we justly deserve the criticism.
"It's unfortunate that such events could take place in a week where we worked so hard to engage the many different gaming communities in the exact opposite way. I am personally committed to ensuring that diversity and inclusion is central to our everyday business and our core values as a team - inside and outside the company. We need to hold ourselves to higher standards and we will do better in the future."