Industry staff
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
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Original story, March 25, 2020: Gaming corporations around the world are mobilizing to help the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that has caused more than 19,000 deaths and a major global disruption.
“Games play a role in raising awareness of the demanding situations facing the world today,” said Dr. Richard Hatchett, executive director of the Epidemic Preparedness Innovations Coalition.
“It is through a concerted global reaction, with the personal sector working with governments and philanthropists, bringing resources and experience, that we can hope to put an end to these emerging epidemic threats.”
GamesIndustry.biz compiles all industry aid efforts; below is an alphabetical list that will be updated.
COVID-19 – Image Credit: Centers for Disease Control
The Developer of Halo budgeted the COVID-19 reaction budget with the sale of the Relief and Recovery REQ DLC package for Halo 5: Guardians. He also created a new Spartan-themed T-shirt for a larger budget.
Community Manager Brian Jarrard announced on Twitter that the DLC had already raised more than $200,000.
Publisher Call of Duty has donated another $2 million to its Call of Duty endowment, which is helping fund equipment that veterans return to the workforce.
Bethesda Softworks, Zenimax Media and Bethesda as a are donating a total of $1 million to various COVID-19 aid charities.
These charities come with Direct Relief, UNICEF and local efforts for Bethesda’s studies and individual offices, with cash shared among them.
Read the full story here.
The Destiny developer raised more than $350,000 in the first 24 hours of his Guardian’s Heart fundraiser, which invites players to donate $20 or more to get a special in-game.
The initiative eventually raised more than $780,000, surpassing its purpose of $700,000. All proceeds will go to the Direct Relief charity and materials will be purchased for front-line physical care workers.
CCP Games is helping to increase the budget for COVID-19 relief efforts through its Plex For Good crusade on Eve Online.
First introduced in 2005 to those affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Plex for Good raised about $600,000 over the next 15 years.
Players can contribute to Plex, the in-game currency for Eve Online, which CCP will then donate the genuine financial price to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
“It’s time to come together once again and fight this unprecedented global fitness challenge,” said CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson.
“The cash raised through this Plex For Good crusade will be the World Health Organization to coordinate the global effort, countries will avoid, stumble and respond to the pandemic.”
So far, more than $100,000 has been raised, with the crusade scheduled for June 2020.
Earlier this year, Plex for Good raised more than $100,000 for wildfires in Australia
The developer of Cyberpunk 2077 has organized a donation of four million PLN ($950,000) to the nonprofit Fundacja Wielka Orkiestra ‘wi-tecznej Pomocy to fight COVID-19 in their local Poland.
Half of the cash comes from the board of directors and major shareholders, while the other part comes from the company itself.
Gears of War has donated two hundred Xbox One X consoles to Gamers Outreach, which will distribute the curtains to children in U.S. hospitals.
Each Xbox One X is fixed to a “Go Kart”, a curling base with a screen, which simplifies the movement of the console. The systems will be used in at least two hundred hospitals.
Developer and publisher Crytivo has announced that it will no longer withdraw its profit relief from its Crytivo store for the foreseeable future, for developers in difficulty due to COVID-19.
In addition, Crytivo will waive its percentage of winnings from its titles on Steam and others during the same period.
In return, Electronic Arts will fund up to $2 million in worker donations for COVID-19 support efforts worldwide.
Meanwhile, staff led local aid efforts in Canada, Sweden, and the United States by donating essential food and materials to hospitals and organizations.
“There has never been one more time for us to give strength to our local communities,” said CEO Andrew Wilson.
Read the full story here.
The social network has partnered with sports and entertainment company IMG to host a mario Tennis Aces celebrity tournament to raise funds for a charity, Deadline reports.
Under the title ‘Stay at Home Slam’, the festival will see matches between tennis stars such as Maria Sharapova, Kevin Anderson, Serena and Venus Williams, and Madison Keyes, as well as other celebrities such as models Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber.
Participants will get $25,000 to be donated to the charity of their selection, a total of $400,000, with an additional donation of $1 million for the winner. It will be streamed on IMG’s Facebook games page and on the Facebook tennis page from Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m. ET/ 1 p.m. PT.
World tennis stars will compete in the Mario Tennis Aces tournament from the charity Stay at Home Slam
The Beijing-based FunPlus progression study announced that it will enroll in the #PlayApartTogether initiative and also donated $250,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for aid efforts.
The key resale platform G2A donated HKD 42,000 (US$5400) to Give2Asia, its COVID-19 Hong Kong fund, which supports local charities, adding gyms and food banks.
In addition, G2A donated more than 5,000 euros of protective mask to the Dutch Red Cross for the opposite fight against COVID and helped Polish hospitals to get two centre monitors and other medical equipment.
Finally, G2A has created DzialajmyRazem.pl, a flexible platform for local establishments to search for and join corporations that offer monetary or resource-based assistance.
For registration: An earlier edition of G2A incorrectly stated that G2A had donated $17 million to Give2Asia, when in fact this figure represented the total amount raised through Give2Asia from many sources.
In addition, he claimed that G2A had donated more than 5,000 protective masks to the Dutch Red Cross and protective devices to hospitals in Poland, which G2A announced on its website. As a result of this update, we were informed that this was inaccurate and we reviewed the above data with the appropriate donations.
The three-day GDC virtual convention support fundraiser ended and, combined with the totals for the sale of the GDC aid lot, raised more than $81,000 for game developers affected by GDC’s cancellation due to COVID-19.
Games Done Quick concluded a special weekend, a multi-speed racing marathon charity event, which grossed more than $400,000 for Direct Relief.
100% of the proceeds will be donated, offering non-public protective devices and other essential medical items to fitness personnel responding to COVID-19.
Gfinity has been designated to host the ePremier League Invitational tournament, which will increase the NHS budget.
The tournament will be played through Premier League football players, as well as Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool, Raheem Sterling of Manchester City and Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace. It is from the #PlayersTogether initiative, organized through the stars of the British Football League to raise budget for the NHS.
Gfinity, the UK-based e-sports organisation, will host the tournament this week, and the last will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Saturday, April 25, 2020.
Social casino gaming company GSN Games has raised $217,000 for Meals on Wheels’ COVID-19 reaction fund, supporting its efforts to meet increased demand for food and seniors in the United States.
Cash raised in full through communities betting on GSN Games titles, and users make contributions through WorldWinner, Bingo Bash, Solitaire TriPeaks, GSN Casino, Grand Casino, Fresh Deck Poker and Wheel of Fortune Slots.
Hi-Rez Studios has chosen to redirect its normal catering facilities to local hospitals for coVID-19 fighting fitness staff, offering more than 4,800 foods to date.
Previously, the studio hired a regular catering service to prepare food for more than 400 workers on Tuesdays and Thursdays at most weeks.
But since almost all of the staff now paint from home, the company donates those foods to hospitals in the Atlanta metro area, adding Wellness North Fulton Hospital, which actively treats COVID-19 patients.
The Humble Conquer COVID-19 package has raised more than $6.5 million for charities and organizations responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
With more than 40 games, as well as virtual books and audiobooks, the package has been purchased more than 200,000 times, and one hundred percent of the profits have been spent on the COVID-19 relief effort.
Humble Bundle marketing director Whitney Stutes described it as a massive success and added that cash will do so in many ways. “
“This translates into prompt and practical assistance: non-public protective devices for doctors and nurses, medicines and materials for others with severe COVID-19 cases and resources for which they are most at risk across the country,” said a spokesman for the nonprofit Relief Direct.
“This is a glorious example of everyone coming in combination and doing everything possible to the maximum vulnerable.
IGG has established a $500,000 donation fund to supply medical materials to Wuhan, China.
According to an article posted on the Lords Mobile developer’s Facebook page, the study already sent a first batch of more than 450,000 medical materials (including masks and gloves) to medical services and involved in China, and more will follow.
In addition, IGG has made medical donations to hospitals in Northern California, Barcelona and Canada.
As noted earlier through PC Gamer, IGG has donated more than 2 million devices worldwide.
Supplies sent to Wuhan, China – Image credit: IGG’s Facebook page
IMVU raised more than $100,000 on its charity Fashion for a Cause for aid efforts opposing COVID-19.
The event, which took place from April 10 to May 15, allowed users to purchase special cosmetic parts in the game, and all proceeds were donated to hospitals through the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund of the United Nations Foundation.
Popular YouTube transmitter Seon “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin concluded a full-day charity broadcast, raising more than $660,000 for WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Jackbox Games has announced an upcoming series of ten broadcast episodes with celebrities playing Jackbox songs from their homes to boost the budget of organizations fighting COVID-19.
The series, titled Celebrity Jackbox: Games – Giving, begins and features Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, It), Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley, Middleditch – Schwartz), Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog, Middleditch – Schwartz), Jillian Bell (Brittany) Runs a Marathon, Workaholics) and Josh Hutcherson (Future Man, Hunger Games), who will play for Direct.
In addition to public donations, Jackbox will donate $100,000 according to the episode to the designated charity.
In addition to being part of the Play Acomponent Together campaign, the developer of RuneScape has donated a total of 204,000 euros to 3 intellectual aptitude charities to help his paintings in the UK’s isolation.
The 3 charities are CPSL Mind, Rise Above the Disorder and The Princes Trust. Jagex has also worked with Mind to provide intellectual aptitude recommendations to its players.
An initial donation of 100,000 euros made directly through Jagex, while the winnings of an occasion in the game raised an additional 104,000 euros for the total.
The eSports site Luckbox is committed to supporting the WeSave Charity Play DOTA 2 tournament, which increases the budget for CEPI and GlobalGiving.
With 24 teams, the online tournament organized through the sports marketing company WePlay; The occasion runs until Thursday, March 27, and has so far raised 90% of its $200,000 target.
Luckbox is committed to supporting the effort by donating all winnings from bets placed on tournament matches.
Swedish mobile developer MAG Interactive will donate QuizDuel’s global revenue on April 10 to COVID-19’s support efforts.
All proceeds from that day will be donated to the CoVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund of the World Health Organization.
With over one hundred million downloads, QuizDuel is one of the largest mobile contests in Europe and the most played game in Germany according to the corporate advertising watch AppAnn Annie.
Working in partnership with the German fitness government on the Together Against Corona initiative, MAG has introduced a COVID-19 awareness questionnaire in its game to combat the spread of the virus.
“Doing everything possible to contribute to this complicated scenario turns out to be an apparent course of action,” said chief executive Daniel Hasselberg.
MAG Interactive works with healthy German government to combat misinformation about the virus
MegaFans has partnered with the International Association of Game Developers Foundation for a charity tournament held may 15-17 to relieve COVID-19.
The tournament, which will be scheduled in Candy Boo’s mobile title, will cause 80% of all in-app purchases to go directly to the IGDAF Community Fund to help independent game developers who have been affected by the pandemic.
Players will also have the opportunity to make direct donations, one hundred percent of which will be transferred to the help fund.
The occasion aims to raise at least $10,000 for 3 days, with separate prizes to donate to the fund on behalf of the winner, and MegaFans agrees to adjust 10% of total donations to IGDAF either through sponsors.
My.Games will donate advertising in its mobile games to European intellectual fitness charities as a component of UK Mental Health Awareness Week from 18 to 24 May.
Up to 50% of the advertising area of your games will go to charities.
“Last week we published a survey that indicated that 32% of our players were self-taught,” said CEO Vasily Maguryan.
“We had to act. Although we would possibly see a smooth at the end of the tunnel, with the lifting of the locks in some countries, the continued effect of COVID-19 is hard to know.”
Russian cell phone developer MyTona has partnered with the inDriver ride-sharing company to donate $500,000 to hospitals in Yakutsk city.
The ad posted on MyTona’s Facebook page (translated via Google Translate) and said the money would be used to buy enthusiasts and other must-have equipment.
Plague Inc. developer Ndemic Creations has donated $250,000 to the Epidemic Preparedness Innovation Coalition and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
“Eight years ago, I never imagined that the genuine world would look like a Plague Inc. game or that so many players would use Plague Inc. to help them through a genuine pandemic,” said game author James Vaughan.
“We are proud to be able to assist important WHO and CEPI cadters in their work to locate a vaccine opposed to COVID-19.”
French cell phone Oh Bibi has donated 10,000 euros to the International Red Cross for COVID-19 relief.
Money raised through a “Stay at Home Challenge” in his game, Frag Pro Shooter. Limited edition masks were sold to players over a two-week period, for a total of €10,000.
Developer Talking Tom has donated $120,000 to local organizations in his studies for his efforts to combat COVID-19. The donations went to troubled hospitals in Slovenia and a charity in Barcelona that is helping families in need, among others.
A #StayHealthy crusade is also being carried out in the iconic Talking Tom and Talking Angela titles to inspire users to wash their hands, practice social and home estrangement as much as possible.
The editor announced that he would donate the proceeds from sales of safe games to WHO and the United Nations Foundation.
Product of the sale of more than ten games and their editions between today and Friday, April 3 at 6:00 p.m. BST will be donated to charities to help them fight COVID-19.
Games include Cities: Skylines, Hearts of Iron IV, Pillars of Eternity, Shadowrun Returns and Surviving Mars, and all can be discovered on a special steam fundraising page.
On April 21, the publisher revealed to Twitter that its sale had grossed more than $500,000.
The full range of games included in the offer.
Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios sell in-game cosmetic prizes on Neverwinter and Star Trek Online, and all winnings go to players from the Pop Culture Heroes Coalition or the United Way Bay area.
The crusade has been since May 12, and in the first week alone, the Crusades raised more than $110,000.
Based in Dublin, Ireland, homescapes developer has announced that it will pay $650 to its 2100 employees.
“We hope that this money will relieve some of the tension that everyone faces now and that we take more care of ourselves and those we enjoy the most,” Playrix said.
In addition, Playrix has allocated $1.3 million to purchase medical devices, disinfectants and hospital equipment in Russia and Ukraine.
Sony has announced a $10 million fund to help independent developers in monetary difficulties over the COVID-19 outbreak.
It has also introduced a Play At Home initiative to inspire PlayStation owners to abide by social estrangement regulations by providing loose virtual copies of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey.
You can get more information in our full story here.
Sony Corp. it has also established a $100 million fund for COVID-19 in 3 different areas: charities and organizations fighting the virus; Educators whose plans have been interrupted; and creatives in the entertainment industries whose livelihood is at risk.
You can get more information in our full story here.
Israeli cell phone developer Playtika has partnered with Feeding America to provide food to others vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With its Bingo Blitz game, players will be able to turn virtual food into genuine foods for the hunger charity.
For each virtual meal listed in the game between April 22 and April 25, Playtika will donate ten foods to Feeding America.
“It’s a privilege to marry Feeding America and its critical work,” said Bingo Blitz CEO Dudu Dahan.
The company has committed to donate 20% of all gaming revenue from its Nintendo Switch portfolio over the next 3 months, as well as one hundred percent of Robonauts and Geki Yabi Runner sales to COVID-19 support organizations.
In addition, the study donates more than $75,000 in surgical masks to hospitals in Poland.
Spanish Raiser Games will donate 50% of all revenue from 3 DLC packs for 34 Big Things ‘ Goat of Duty to COVID19Fund of the World Health Organization.
The 3 DLC packages are now available, with a price of between 1.69 and 2.69. This follows a two-week era in which Goat of Duty would be obtained for free, greatly expanding the number of players who could purchase the DLC.
The company and its co-founders are donating $1.5 million to COVID-19’s aid efforts in Los Angeles, California.
Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill donated $500,000 each, while another $500,000 got here from League of Legends’ own developer.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement at a news convention this week, which set the figure at $1 million.
However, Riot Games corrected the figure to $1.5 million in The Wrap: $400,000 will go to the Los Angeles Food Bank, while another $200,000 will go to the mayor’s fund, and the rest of the cash will pass to local nonprofits.
Riot Games is also helping to locate non-public protective devices, such as masks, for frontline workers.
In a June 23 update, Riot said it had allocated more than $4.5 million to COVID-19 by mid-May. You’ll complete this with a four-week charity fundraiser in League of Legends, with one hundred percent of the proceeds from the Riot Games Social Impact Fund; you can find more information about it here.
The gaming platform will broadcast the One World: Together At Home concert on Saturday, April 18.
Organized through Global Citizen and the World Health Organization, this special live-streaming concert aims to publicize the paintings that fitness painters, WHO, the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and various charities are making to those affected by the pandemic.
The program, organized through Lady Gaga, includes dozens of world-renowned singers and actors. Throughout the eight-hour event, frontline fitness staff and local charities will also share their stories with the paintings they make.
In addition to streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Twitch and YouTube, Roblox will broadcast the occasion to its millions of players.
Roblox also announced a new charitable initiative, in which pieces of the game will be sold to players to boost the budget of No Kid Hungry, UNICEF USA and COVID-19’s recovery and relief efforts from Code.org.
Items will be available until June 30 or until $1 million has been raised, and Roblox will equal the amount paid through players. In addition, Roblox will donate $1 million, based on the amount spent on the items, to the 3 designated charities.
Roblox will be one of the platforms to host the One World concert
Mental Health Charity Safe in Our World has introduced a committed COVID-19 center.
The center includes articles on how to stay active, relax, manage stress, run from home, government and other applicable topics.
Scottish developers raised more than £3,000 for local NHS charities at a recent meeting.
Based on the Drinking The Mini-Summits games in Scotland hosted through Indie Champions, the publisher formerly known as All four Games, last week Interface Nine organized a series of brief discussions on progression and local industry.
The occasion was free, but donations were encouraged with the promise of a raffle price ticket for every pound spent. More than 1000 euros were offered in prizes, all donated through gaming companies.
The Skillz mobile gaming platform partnered with Comic Relief US to raise more than $45,000 for young people affected by COVID-19.
Funds have been raised several times within the game and tournaments in various Skillz-based games, adding Cube Cube and Blackout Blitz.
In addition, the platform partnered with the American Red Cross and raised more than $39,000 to buy blood donations in hospitals and $28,000 in partnership with Children’s Miracle Network and Extra Life Hospitals to combat COVID-19.
A new initiative in the UK aims to get another 100,000 young people to play with the blocking measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The secondary mission, which begins on May 4, will offer 13- to 17-year-olds the opportunity to build a game for seven days. The program will come with GameMaker Studio 2 from YoYo Games, with the leading British developers organizing an era of weekly “missions”: Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive and Sumo Digital are among the studios that will do so.
Side Quest is controlled through Into Games’ game career service with UKIE, the National Video Game Museum, the NextGen Skills Academy and The Careers and Enterprise Company. You can read the full story here.
Square Enix has been providing several of its games for loose on Steam since March to inspire players to stay at home from the locks, however, it has now adjusted its crusade to also gain charitable advantages.
The company’s Stay Home and Play crusade will now expand to include discounted Steam game offerings in some games, and all proceeds will go to food banks and other charities in North America and Europe.
Square Enix is also donating copies of its games as a component of UKIE’s initiative to offer loose games to fitness personnel fighting the pandemic.
Update, June 18, 2020: Square Enix announced that the Stay Home and Play crusade has raised a total of $2.4 million for charities in North America and Europe.
Stay in the Game accepts donations until May 21. The purpose is to raise $50,000 in a percentage among 4 nonprofits: Take This, Global Game Jam, the IGDA Foundation and the online dating and harassment hotline.
Regardless of the amount raised through Stay in the Game before the May 21 deadline, it will be matched through an organization of game companies: Double Fine, Riot Games, Return, Six To Start and Robot Teddy.
You can see the full story here.
Take-Two, along with many of its publishers and own studios, donated 5% of sales revenue from its online games to help COVID-19’s aid efforts in April and May 2020.
This revenue will come from in-game purchases at GTA Online, Red Dead Online, NBA 2K20, NBA 2K19 and Dragon City, as well as full virtual game sales from The Outer Worlds.
In total, the publisher has raised more than $15 million for more than 180 organizations, adding Covenant House, Doctors Without Borders, Feeding America, International Medical Corps, Robin Hood and Save the Children.
In addition, on April 14, 2K and Humble Bundle presented a new charity package to budget for the International Medical Corps.
2K winnings will all be donated to charity. The offer includes games from the BioShock, Borderlands Civilization, NBA 2K, WWE 2K and X-Com series.
The PUBG Mobile team donated a total of $2 million to Direct Relief after several gaming-related charity events.
The $2 million comes from the game’s Play As One campaign, which asked players to take part in an in-game race challenge to boost the charity’s budget, making a profit for COVID-19 frontline workers.
Thatgamecompany has raised more than $1 million for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and OneTreePlanted in its reaction to COVID-19.
The budget comes from a “Healing Days” occasion in Sky: Children of the Light that allowed you to purchase an in-game item, and all proceeds were donated to MSF.
This weekend’s Twitch Stream Aid event raised $2.77 million for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, funded through the United Nations Foundation.
The general was announced via Twitter yesterday, and the streaming market continues to inspire donations.
Since then, Ubisoft has donated $150,000 to the Stream Aid event.
Valve has partnered with 4 independent developers to supply the Go Play Inside package, which will help increase the budget of other vulnerable people in the next countries for the coronavirus.
The bundle includes Dead Cells, Subnautica, Celeste and The Escapists 2; the offer package is sold at a 20% discount, and another 20% of the proceeds will be donated to the COVID-19 Hunger Action Relief Fund.
In the weeks that Xbox revealed that players can use their Microsoft Reward broadcasts to donate to the CDC Foundation, there were more than 100,000 individual donations.
Although the Xbox revealed the exact amount collected, it estimated the figure at “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
After the show’s initial good fortune, Xbox announced that players in the U.S. They can now use their Microsoft Rewards broadcasts for COVID-19 support efforts with donations to the United Nations Foundation and GlobalGiving.
Popular streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins donated $150,000 this week to combat the coronavirus outbreak, while Nintendo donated 9,500 respiratory masks to the city of North Bend, Washington, and device manufacturer Razer donated a million surgical masks to global fitness authorities.
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