Driven by the success of Game Pass and the huge interest in its E3 presentation (especially thanks to Starfield), it's safe to say that the Xbox is on a roll right now. Polygon spoke with Peter Wyse, head of publishing for Xbox, about the company's commitment to diversity, a topic as important to the company as its games.

As an example of a diverse game, Wyse cites Dontnod's "Tell Me Why," published by Xbox and currently free during Pride Month through the end of June. 'We're very proud of this game,' Wyse said. This game speaks to our values, including LGBTQIA+ representation and mental health awareness. In the future, Xbox Publishing hopes to increase its partnerships with diverse game development studios; Xbox is also a sponsor of Gameheads, a technical training program for young people of color and from low-income backgrounds.

"Phil [Spencer] is always talking about the journey of getting to 3 billion players," Wyse said, stressing that this should include players on all different platforms. To that end, Xbox is currently investing heavily in cloud gaming.

"I'm really excited about the idea of being able to play high-fidelity games on cell phones. [Diversity is important because it influences hiring decisions, the content of the game, and even the hardware, really everywhere. Accessibility, for example, is another form of diversity in that accessible hardware and games allow diverse people to play games. However, cloud gaming is not without its problems, and depending on where you live and what you can afford, you may not have an adequate Internet connection. This is an issue that Microsoft itself recently addressed on its blog, stating that it is already involved in efforts to provide affordable broadband to low-income households in the US.

Microsoft has also made progress on an initiative to double its black workforce by 2025. According to a report released today, the company is "64.0% of the way to its 2025 commitment to Black and African-American management positions (director level and below)" and has developed "active partnerships with Black-owned tech companies and communities."

"Additionally, we launched a Black Channel Partner Alliance Community to support onboarding to Microsoft's cloud and unlock partner benefits from co-selling with Microsoft," the report states.

The report gives us hope that Microsoft's diversity strategy as a whole is more than just PR, but it remains to be seen how things will develop with regard to gaming.