SteelSeries and KontrolFreek Celebrate Pride with Support for the LGBTQ Gaming Community

CHICAGO – JUNE 1, 2021 – SteelSeries, the worldwide leader in gaming and esports peripherals, and KontrolFreek, the creator of Performance Gaming Gear, today announced a partnership with The Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people, to send messages of love and support to LGBTQ gamers and amplify voices from the LGBTQ gaming community.

This Pride season, SteelSeries and KontrolFreek are celebrating and waving the Pride colors along with the gaming community through donations, giveaways, and a month of advocacy across its social media, community, and product channels to raise awareness for the need for inclusivity, accessibility, and equality in gaming.

As an official partner and corporate sponsor of The Trevor Project, SteelSeries will donate 100% of the funds raised from its weekly live streams on Twitch. Additionally, SteelSeries will match the total amount generated from the live streams and KontrolFreek will donate a portion of its online sales at the end of June. To help fans to show their support and allyship, SteelSeries has created a run of limited-edition Pride-themed speaker plates for its award-winning Arctis line of headsets. 100% of the profits from the sales will be donated to The Trevor Project to help provide free, 24/7 crisis counseling to LGBTQ young people who are struggling. The limited-edition speaker plates are available for $29.99 at steelseries.com.

To amplify advocacy and allyship and get the community involved, SteelSeries and KontrolFreek will distribute a collection of limited-edition Pride-related gear through giveaways across its social media and digital channels, as well as making digital assets available for fans to show their support. Additionally, the brands are offering their communities, influencers, and fans the opportunity to help support The Trevor Project’s efforts through donations and donation matching.

According to research conducted by The Trevor Project, more than 1.8 million LGBTQ young people in the U.S. seriously consider suicide – and at least one LGBTQ young person (13-24) attempts suicide every 45 seconds. Those are staggering numbers, but Trevor’s research also indicates that LGBTQ youth who reported having at least one LGBTQ-affirming space had 35% reduced odds of attempting suicide in the past year.

The Trevor Project currently has more than 700 digital volunteer crisis counselors in total and trains a new counselor cohort each month. The Trevor Project aims to triple its digital volunteer crisis counselors in 2021, and eventually grow the pool by 10x – significantly increasing the number of LGBTQ youth served each year. LGBTQ young people who contact The Trevor Project will always speak to a highly trained human crisis counselor, available 24/7 and for free.

If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/, or by texting START to 678678.

For SteelSeries Pride logos and speaker plate images, check out: https://steelseries.box.com/v/For-Pride-2021

About SteelSeries

SteelSeries is the worldwide leader in gaming and esports peripherals focused on premium quality, innovation, and functionality. Founded in 2001, SteelSeries improves performance through first-to-market innovations and technologies that enable gamers to play harder, train longer, and rise to the challenge. SteelSeries is the pioneering supporter of esports and competitive gaming tournaments, connecting gamers and fostering a sense of community and purpose. SteelSeries’ family of professional and gaming enthusiasts are the driving force behind the company and help influence, design, and craft every single accessory and the brand’s software ecosystem, SteelSeries GG. In 2020, SteelSeries acquired KontrolFreek, the industry leader in high-performance controller accessories, and Nahimic, the leader in 3D sound solutions for gaming. To learn more about SteelSeries, visit SteelSeries.com and join the conversation at @SteelSeries.

About The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project is the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Trevor Project offers a suite of 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs, including TrevorLifeline, TrevorText, and TrevorChat as well as the world's largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ youth, TrevorSpace. Trevor also operates an education program with resources for youth-serving adults and organizations, an advocacy department fighting for pro-LGBTQ legislation and against anti-LGBTQ rhetoric/policy positions, and a research team to discover the most effective means to help young LGBTQ people in crisis and end suicide.

Media Contact:

Paul Murphy
[email protected]
+1 (971) 284-7984