Alienware is celebrating its 20th anniversary by partnering with actress Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass; The 5th Wave) for a video series where she plays both with and against some of gaming’s top personalities, including Angry Joe (Joe Vargas) and Rooster Teeth’s Achievement Hunter team. The goal is to both celebrate gaming and help overcome the stereotype that girls don’t play games, even though statistics show that females make up about 48 percent of the video game community.

The first in the 3-part video series released on October 17 and features the game Rocket League with Achievement Hunter, while the next one comes out next week on November 1, where Moretz will play Broforce with Angry Joe. The final video releases on November 14, and Moretz will challenge Alienware’s own in-house pro-gamer, Anna Maree (aka rxysurfchic) to a friendly 1v1 game of Overwatch.

Chris Sutphen, global marketing director at Alienware, spoke with [a]listdaily about working with Moretz to break down stereotypes and how the PC gaming landscape has changed in two decades.

Chris Sutphen, Alienware global marketing director
Chris Sutphen, Alienware global marketing director

How did the partnership with Moretz and streaming personalities to create a video series come together?

Chloë’s very active on social media and is often featured in the press. And through her posts and articles, we noticed that she is very passionate about video games. With four older brothers, she grew up gaming, often playing first-person shooters and constantly being challenged to improve her individual and team play. It was a natural fit for Alienware to partner with Chloë and to communicate that gaming is a great equalizer. Big, small, male, female, young, old—it doesn’t matter. If you’re in it to win it, then game on.

What made Moretz the ideal person to be featured in the series?

A perception exists that females are not avid gamers, even though 48 percent of active gamers are women. Chloë certainly dispels that notion and wants to speak up about gender stereotypes and be a role model to females by stating, “Gaming is not a male sport or female sport. Gaming is for anyone who wants to challenge themselves, escape, have fun and create comradery with other gamers.”

How did you choose which games they’d play in the videos?

The three-part video series features Chloë playing against Rooster Teeth (Achievement Hunter), Joe Vargas (Angry Joe Show) and Alienware’s resident gamer and host Anna Maree (@rxysurfchic). Against Rooster Teeth, Chloë speaks on team dynamics. Counting on your team member for their unique strengths, all for the win. Achievement Hunter helps amplify this point and how gamers can play online with virtually anyone in the world.

Joe and Chloë discuss how gamers build connections, and Angry Joe takes it a step further by showing his Broforce game character costume and his enjoyment creating it. Playing against Anna Maree in Overwatch provided an opportunity to speak to the rise of female gamers, how/why they’re both part of the movement and the expansion of gaming to a much broader, more inclusive audience.

What systems are they using to play Rocket League in the first video?

Rocket League gameplay was shot at Rooster Teeth Studios, powered by our latest Alienware Aurora desktop. Our mid-size form factor is designed to deliver experiences extending to Oculus VR or HTC Vive solutions, 4K gaming and even up to 12K gaming with our highest graphics options. It offers an ultra-wide variety of upgradeability options and spans many performance and budgetary considerations gamers consider.

What do the videos say about the Alienware brand?

Alienware is thrilled to partner with Chloë to bring the message that gaming is a great equalizer. The videos demonstrate the power of Alienware that offers the most immersive gaming experience on the planet while creating communities that get players closer and deeper into the games they love. And females and people of all ages, sizes and races make up that community. Gaming is for everyone who wants to experience the rush and fun of individual and team competition within a PC gaming environment and experience new cutting edge technologies like VR. We’ve led the industry for 20 years in innovation while helping communities grow and will continue to do so.

How has the PC gaming audience changed in the 20 years since Alienware was founded?

Twenty years ago, Alienware spent its early years building credibility among die-hard gamers as PC gaming started to gain mass market appeal. Through the years, the PC gaming audience demanded innovation, and Alienware delivered many firsts: custom colored desktops, gaming laptops, liquid-cooled desktops, the graphics amplifier and the list goes on.

How PC games were delivered into the home and types of games changed significantly as influential PC games steadily mutated the player experience—from the complex scripting and immersion of Half-Life to the generation-defining MMO of World of Warcraft; from the globally dominant multiplayer online battle arena of League of Legends to the revolutionary online game delivery system of Steam. A main goal of ours at Alienware will be to continue to innovate and adapt to the PC gamers needs.