On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the New York Liberty Women’s National Basketball Association (or WNBA) team plays against the Los Angeles Sparks on a basketball court covered in Xbox logos and console-inspired designs. Microsoft says: that this is the league’s “first gaming-inspired basketball court,” with the area below the net resembling the vent holes in the Xbox Series X.
Of course, there’s also a “metaverse” tie-in – the field has been recreated in the Dunking Simulator Roblox experience. Although the gameplay doesn’t look as realistic as something like NBA 2Kit can be fun for those of us unable to attend any of the actual matches.
Microsoft says it will donate up to $50,000 to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation of Girls Who Code, giving $10 to one of the foundations for every entry on the Power Her Dreams site, as part of his goal more attention for women in sports and gaming.
A report of the guard last year highlighted how women are vastly underrepresented in the list of top earners in esports, and are players in the WNBA paid much less on average than their NBA counterparts. WNBA players have just started to appear on the cover of the popular NBA 2K video game series in the last two years since the competition was added to NBA 2K20.
