Frequently Asked Questions

What is BDS?

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement is inspired by the movement to end apartheid in South Africa, and by other liberation struggles in countries like India and Ireland, where boycotts were an effective tactic against colonialism. The international community boycotted companies that were complicit in South African apartheid, and British colonialism in India and Ireland, which contributed to these systems’ downfall. BDS aims to use these same tactics to organise the international community to pressure Israel to end its violations of international law, and to end its apartheid, occupation, and colonisation of Palestinians.

BDS has 3 core demands: that Israel ends its military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza strip; that it gives equal rights to Palestinian citizens; and that Palestinian refugees displaced from their homelands from 1947 to the present day are allowed to return. Learn more about BDS on their official website.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) conducts thorough research and selects targets for strategic boycotts.

You will often see boycott lists circulating on the internet which may encourage you to boycott an endless list of companies. The BDS list comes directly from a large coalition in Palestinian society, and encourages targeted boycotts, meaning selecting a smaller number of targets based on who is most complicit and what will have the most impact, and getting the maximum number of people to boycott them. Learn more about BDS’ philosophy of targeted boycotts on their official website.

Why boycott Xbox?

Microsoft is one of the most complicit tech companies in Israel’s genocide, colonisation and oppression of Palestinians. Microsoft provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that facilitate the surveillance, policing, and genocide of Palestinians. Boycotting Xbox, Microsoft’s gaming arm, is a tactic to pressure Microsoft to end its ties with Israel.

Because video games are a luxury good, they’re a good target for consumers to boycott without having to give up items or services they need to live.

Find out more about Microsoft’s complicity on the BDS website.

Why not boycott other tech companies?

Other tech companies are absolutely complicit in the genocide and colonisation of Palestinians, including Intel and HP. We intend to campaign on these targets in the future as well, but have chosen to focus on the biggest target in our industry first.

If you sign up to our mailing list from here on our website, you’ll be updated about future campaigns which may target other companies.

What about indie games?

For indie games by Xbox-owned studios, we encourage you to make your own decisions on a case-by-case basis. You might still wish to support games such as Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight because of its themes of black liberation, for instance. It’s worth noting that these indie games don’t make anywhere near as much money as the big ones, so it’s worth putting our time, energy and efforts into building mass boycotts for the larger titles rather than getting caught up over the smaller ones.

What alternatives do you suggest, if I boycott Xbox?

There are several other platforms you can play games on. We do ask that you consider more independent, developer led solutions and platforms.

If you specifically want to spend your money supporting Palestinian developers, you could check out some of the games from the Palestinian Relief, TTRPGs for Palestine, and Play for Peace Bundles. You can support the work of people like Rasheed Abueideh (developer of Liyla and the Shadows of War, Dreams on a Pillow), Marskye (composer for Thirsty Suitors, Boyfriend Dungeon, and more), Nadia Shammas (writer for Thirsty Suitors), and more.

Should I be worried about taking action?

Some of the actions we list are easy to take with little to no risk, like canceling your Game Pass subscription.

However, we want to be up front that some of the actions do carry more risk. People acting in solidarity with Palestinians have sometimes been fired, lost income, or been harassed by the police.

We believe that we all need to be willing to take risks in order to end a genocide because those in power will not stop without being pressured to do so. We are asking ourselves and others to evaluate the risks and weigh them up against the continuation of a genocide. What each of us would do to stop a genocide is what we choose to do today.

We are not asking everyone to take all of the risks, but we do think it’s important to not just dismiss them outright as something you can’t do. Talk with your close friends and coworkers and see how you can mitigate the risks together. The more of us who speak up and the more of us who take action, the less risky each individual action becomes.