Have you ever played a game and walked right past a character in the background thinking “Wow, they must feel so sad and underappreciated?” Well not anymore!
Announced today, Xbox Game Pass and “Free Guy” are proud to present the first-ever Xbox Game Pass Non-Player Character (NPC) Awards to celebrate and honor the greatest unsung heroes in video games. This comes ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. theatrical release of “Free Guy” on August 13, 2021, about a bank teller named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who realizes he’s in an open world video game that will soon go offline.
“If you were to walk the (virtual) halls at Xbox today, I think you’d find that to us, the idea of the ‘player’ has come to mean someone who plays many kinds of games on many different devices. PC gaming is part of this,” writes Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, on Xbox Wire.
We’ve talked often about our “player-first” approach to gaming over the last few years. In the past, that may have meant different things to different people, especially for those who identified strongly with being a console gamer, a PC gamer, or a mobile gamer. If you were to walk the (virtual) halls at Xbox today, I think you’d find that to us, the idea of the “player” has come to mean someone who plays many kinds of games on many different devices. PC gaming is part of this; “player first” has to apply for PC, as well, and to that end we’ve been making investments across the PC gaming ecosystem to ensure that PC is a key part of how people can play games.
At Xbox, we are committed to building the most inclusive community on the planet, where everyone can experience the joy and connection of gaming and bring their authentic selves to the action. In 2021, we will be celebrating Black History Month by offering captivating gaming experiences, highlighting the contributions of influential Black and African American developers and creators, while raising awareness of important causes that matter to Black communities.
