To honour International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month 2022, Xbox will celebrate mentorship to empower and tap into the upcoming generation of women in the gaming industry.

A new mentorship program will be launched to focus on women aspiring to become game developers.

Louise O’Connor, producer at Rare Ltd, draws on the fact that although the presence of women in gaming careers is growing, it still remains far behind compared to men.

In a Xbox Wire statement, the video game industry has 24% of the workforce as women. This does not correspond to the actual number of women who play video games (45%) which is an under-representation Microsoft wishes to address.

With its Mentoring programme, Xbox’s aim is to create possibilities to match experienced women with juniors in the industry, resulting in partnerships between women and Xbox’s diverse range of studios and products. Also the aim is to find “aspiring talent” as well as provide “valuable 1:1 coaching sessions with key leaders” globally.  According to Louise O’Connor, Xbox hopes to use its experience to guide the next female talents in the industry.

More details of the program, including which regions and countries are eligible to take part, is expected later this month but for now, read more about the programme on Xbox’s blog:

Formula E World Championship returns to the capital with the London E-Prix, a double-header of all-electric motor racing on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July and today launched ticket sales for the 2022 London E-Prix with a unique race car livery designed by iconic east London street artist, Mr Cenz.

Mr Cenz, whose distinctive, surrealist, photorealism style of graffiti artwork has been making eye-catching statements in public spaces in east London since the 1990s, has applied his creative skills directly to a high-performance Formula E race car. The all-electric single-seater, which races on the streets of global cities in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, was unveiled today in Shoreditch, east London, with another of Mr Cenz’s major mural artworks as backdrop.
“Formula E is unique in that we take our race cars to the streets of world cities like New York, Berlin, Rome, Riyadh, Seoul and London,” said Formula E CEO, Jamie Reigle.  “Now we’ve taken the streets of east London to our race car. “

“Inviting Mr Cenz to create a livery for a Formula E car reflects the importance of engaging with the culture and community of our host cities. Bringing local communities closer to our racing connects people to our mission of accelerating the switch to electric mobility and taking action to fight climate change,” said Jamie.  “Growing up in London, I was inspired by the graffiti artwork coming out of the New York hip-hop scene,” said Mr Cenz.  “Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on projects all over the world, but nothing comes close to creating art in east London. It will always be close to my heart, I’ve painted lots of murals in the area over the years, so working with Formula E to celebrate the return of the London E-Prix has been a huge passion project for me.” “Painting a Formula E race car was a new challenge but I’m delighted that we were able to give it that gritty east London vibe to kick off the London E-Prix in July.” 

London-raised international DJ and producer, Jax Jones, has also been announced as performing for fans at both races of the London E-Prix.  “I grew up in London so it’s always a bit of a homecoming for me whenever I get to play here, let alone at a car race running through the middle of my city?! Gonna be crazy.”

What to expect at the London 2022 E-Prix

The London E-Prix features a double-header of races on Saturday 30 July and Sunday 31 July at ExCeL London, with a return to full capacity grandstands in London for the first time since the 2016 race, held in Battersea Park.   The race circuit is overlaid on the streets around, and even inside, the ExCeL London. Twenty-two drivers from 11 teams including Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan and Mercedes, compete in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the first all-electric motorsport sanctioned as world class by motorsport’s governing body, the FIA. London will host Rounds 13 and 14 in Season 8 of the championship’s biggest-ever 16-race calendar. The London E-Prix is an all-day family-friendly event including the Formula E fan festival at the Allianz E-Village plus a Gaming Arena featuring race car driving simulators.

Grandstand seat tickets are available now starting at £49 from www.FIAFormulaE.com/London.