Pride Month is winding down but Sony is still celebrating and committed to celebrating long after June comes to a close. The company announced a few new initiatives to commemorate the month, including a free PlayStation 4 theme and curated list of LGBTQ+ games on the PlayStation Store.
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The Last of Us Part II leads said curated list on the PlayStation Store, which makes sense as it is a huge Sony exclusive with a queer protagonist. Some games have been included that players choose their same-sex partners and see queer NPCs like Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey while others like Bugsnax and Overwatch just feature canon LGBTQ+ characters. There are 53 total games, but just remember that these aren’t all on sale; it’s a compilation of games with LGBTQ+ characters. Most titles are full price. Sony also curated a Spotify playlist with these games in mind, which includes music from Janelle Monáe, David Bowie, Lil Nas X, and more.
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While the sale is on both PS4 and PS5, the Pride theme is only on PS4 since the PS5 doesn’t (currently) have themes. To get the theme, players have to input a special voucher code that’s dependent on where they live. Here are the multi-use codes for each region:
- Americans: GBX2-ELNK-R5KE
- Europe: XQF7-9JN4-3NQM
- Japan: CKDB-GDN3-637B
- Korea: PDJR-T6NH-B49Q
- Other Asian countries and regions: DQM5-2LNC-T6K
Sony also laid out a couple other initiatives. It’s working with Gayming Magazine represent LGBTQ+ characters through the year. Sony also tells readers to look at the Gayming Awards 2021 from February 2021 as it sponsored the Readers Award. Sony Interactive Entertainment also received a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index, which means it is an inclusive workplace. It also said it supported legislation for the LGBTQ+ community like the Equality Act that passed in the House of Representatives in February 2021 in the United States (which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity) and the Trans Rights Are Human Rights campaign in the United Kingdom. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategist at Sony Interactive Entertainment Tiffany Hester spoke about Sony’s efforts.
“We want to be a positive force for culture and belonging – not only for our PlayStation community, creators, and partners but also for our employees as we continue to build an equitable and inclusive workplace here at SIE,” said Hester. “Even though there is much more work ahead of us, I could not be more proud of our efforts and our global Pride@PlayStation employee network groups, seeing all they’ve accomplished and the impact they are making.”
