Culture and Social Issues

Minecraft Celebrates Pride Festival By Letting You Turn Bees Gay

New York City Pride Parade, 2021 (Anthony Quintano from Mount Laurel, United States / Wikimedia Commons)

Gay bees are more productive in Minecraft during a promotional event celebrating Pride.

Players can buy a free add-on on Minecraft’s online marketplace for a limited time that includes at least ten variants of Pride-clad bees and banners, according to a promo published on Minecraft’s website Monday. The festival it commemorates appears to promote fetish and BDSM culture.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

“In celebration of Stockholm Pride, we’re releasing the Hive of Harmony add-on for free on Marketplace,” Minecraft Marketplace posted on X last Monday. “Over the years, we’ve built an incredible community through Minecraft, where everyone can express themselves, find kinship, and build villages of their own. Our community is strong, healthy, and protective of its members. Just like a bee colony.”

Stressing that the “diverse community is vibrant,” the rainbow-colored hives in the online world “will grow twice as fast, boosted by the strength of the bee colony” and can even spawn a special “powerful Ally Queen bee.” The game also offers multiple variants of the pride flag, including the transgender flag.

“Ideological propaganda has no place in games targeted at children. Unfortunately, many companies have not gotten the message that Americans are fed up with corporate activism on behalf of radical and dangerous causes,” 1792 Exchange executive vice president Greg Scott told the DCNF. “What’s even worse than the messaging itself is that online gaming is the new playground for predators, and with this new feature, Minecraft is making it easier to identify and target the most vulnerable children. As a company infamous for its viruses, Microsoft should be more sensitive to what it is purposely infecting its products with. Every parent should know just what these companies are up to and be vigilant about what their children are doing with their screen time.”

The Pride festival that the promotional event commemorates runs from July 21 through Aug. 1, according to Stockholm Pride’s website. It features the “largest Pride parade in all of Scandinavia,” boasting around 50,000 participants.

The festival includes a “Pride District” in addition to the parade, where “artists, exhibitioners, restaurants and bars for music and parties” are featured.

“Just like Pride District, Pride Kinky’s lovely ‘Kinky Quarter’ has also moved into new and exciting premises this year! As part of Pride District, we will be located in the Slakthus area, a place that some may know as a historical area for various fetish and BDSM parties! We feel at home, and invite you to feel the same,” according to Stockholm Pride.

Minecraft is one of the largest video games in the world with over 200 million players, according to ActivePlayer.io. Microsoft bought the open-world sandbox game for $2.5 billion in 2014, three years after its 2011 launch.