My Friend Peppa Pig and one other unexpected game appeared on the new list of "powerful women" in games created as part of a new Xbox Game Pass promo in celebration of Women's History Month. This presumed gaffe was spotted shortly after the announcement of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perks for March 2023.
Released in late 2021, Petoons Studio's My Friend Peppa Pig is arguably one of the best current Xbox Game Pass games suitable for kids. And while its overwhelmingly positive reviews and audience adoration already generated enough commercial success to warrant a sequel, not even the game's biggest fans are likely to claim that this action adventure turned Peppa Pig into a feminist icon.
Granted, it's unlikely Xbox thinks that to be the case, either, but that didn't stop My Friend Peppa Pig from featuring in the "Powerful Women of Game Pass" section introduced to the service in early March. As spotted by one Reddit user, Petoons Studio's 2021 hit appeared on the list of games published in celebration of the 2023 Women's History Month.
Even if there's an argument to be made about how My Friend Peppa Pig communicates feminist values, it's difficult to say the same about Cities: Skylines, a 2015 city builder published by Paradox Interactive that also ended up being labeled as a powerful woman elsewhere in the newly published Xbox Game Pass highlight reel. Given that state of affairs, it seems plausible that both titles were given the spotlight due to some kind of oversight, although both listings are still live as of March 7, a full week since the list debuted.
Another reason for giving Microsoft some benefit of the doubt here is that the company is a fairly outspoken gender equality advocate whose Xbox division has repeatedly invested in promoting International Women's Day and similar events for years now. As such, the select few outliers found in its recently shared list of powerful women in video games should probably be characterized as an honest mistake at worst and a humorous gaffe at best.
Yet not everyone will agree with the latter sentiment, not least because social media isn't lacking in sexist dog whistles due to all the online radicalization that's still occurring in a post-Gamergate world. This troubling trend is underlined by the fact that U.S. lawmakers started corresponding with game publishers in late 2022, demanding detailed reports of what the industry is doing to curb the well-documented rise in online extremism. While it remains to be seen whether this move results in actual legislation, the development itself stands in testament to the continued importance of Women's History Month and similar events seeking to promote women's historic struggle for gender equality.