In its first report on the state of LGBTQ inclusion in video games, US advocacy organisation Glaad (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has said that games are yet to catch up with TV and film when it comes to queer representation. The study of US-based players found that 17% of gamers identify as LGBTQ a significant increase on the 10% reported in a 2020 Nielsen Games study, and 10% more than the proportion of the US general population thought to be LGBT . By contrast, only 2% of games feature an openly LGBTQ character. That compares with 28% of films released in 2022, and 11% of primetime TV characters in 2022 and 2023, per other Glaad reports. In partnership with Nielsen, Glaad surveyed 1,452 gamers in the US, from within and outside the LGBTQ community.

There aren't enough games with queer characters and themes -- and GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy group, has the statistics to prove it. GLAAD's first annual report on the video game industry found that nearly 20 percent of all players in the United States identify as LGBTQ, yet just 2 percent of games contain characters and storylines relevant to this community. The report highlights three critical truths: Representation matters a lot to LGBTQ players, the remaining gaming audience largely welcomes these themes, and new generations of gamers are only becoming more open to queer content. GLAAD has the numbers, so let's take a deeper look alongside a few bits of gaming news from the past week: Xbox is preparing to address a bunch of rumors on Thursday about the company's plans to bring its exclusive games to PlayStation, Switch and other platforms. The rumors have centered on major releases like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Starfield, but according to The Verge's Tom Warren, the first titles scheduled to make the leap are Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment.