A never seen before catastrophe struck the world when a pandemic came to light in December 2019 in the heart of Wuhan City in Hubei Province. Today it has affected approximately 1,285,000 people worldwide and has brought down countless nations to their knees. Whenever calamities strike, human aid isn’t far and innumerate organizations, celebrities, NGO’s as well as the common masses have come together to fight this deadly disease.
The evolution of gaming and esports is an unparalleled story as the once deemed “mental disorder” is currently helping wage the biggest battle against Coronavirus. Streamers, organizations, game developers, tournament organizers are all standing in unity against this global pandemic and here are a few exceptional contributions.
CD Projekt RED donates $1 million
This breed of polish developers are the mind behind the upcoming and awaited title, Cyberpunk 2077. They donated 4 million Polish Zloty (approx $1million) to a relief fund in Poland handled by a non-profit organization. The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity has pledged 50,000 sets of protection equipment alongside 150 IC bed units. The company’s board of directors as well as the company’s reserve is credited for this massive donation.
Twitch Stream Aid
Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon is the biggest name when it comes to esports broadcasting and live-streaming. This very platform has given birth to the biggest esports streamers and content creators. On March 28th, Twitch ran a charity stream to raise money for WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity response fund. The star-studded stream raised a whopping amount of approximately $2.8 million and garnered a peak viewership of 135,000 as well. Joe Jonas, Turner “Tfue” Tenney, Charlie Puth, John Legend are a few names who were a part of the stream. Ubisoft also donated $150,000 to WHO Relief fund as a part of Twitch Stream Aid.
Razer produces 1 million surgical masks
Razer is a global leader when it comes to gaming peripheral and hardware manufacturing. Razer CEO, Min Liang-Tan announced in a public post that they will be converting some of their manufacturing lines to produce 1 Million surgical masks. These masks will aid doctors around the world who are giving it their all to treat as well as diagnose those affected by Coronavirus. Min Liang-Tan added:
All of us have a part to play and we should be doing whatever we can with the situation getting more serious. Please keep yourself and your family safe – and do lets support each other in these trying times. The team at Razer is stepping up to do what we can.
Ninja donates $150,000 to Feeding America
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is a globally renowned Fortnite streamer currently signed with Mixer. He and his wife, Jessica Blevins donated $150,000 to a relief charity, Feeding America. This charity operates via a nationwide food bank network and provides meals to those in dire need. Tyler also urged all his viewers to do the same and contribute however they can to help the cause.
Faze Clan raises $50,000
Faze Clan partnered with UMG Media and Torque Esports to host an online Call of Duty Warzone tournament to raise funds for people affected by a coronavirus. The tournament was played on 17th March and was streamed on FaZe Clan’s official twitch channel, UMG Media’s channel and the channel of individual players who took part in the fundraising tournament. The event raised $35,109.57 from the viewers, Activision donated $10,000 alongside Faze Clan’s donation of $5,000 summing the total to $50,109.47. The amount will be donated to local relief funds working to help Coronavirus victims. Faze Clan CEO, Lee Trink added:
More than ever, gaming will be a driving force of entertainment in light of the many industry shutdowns.
We can create a large amount of collective good and raise funds to support local strained organizations and charities impacted by a coronavirus
Riot Games and its co-founders donate $1.5 million
Riot Games, the industry giants when it comes to game development played its part by donating a massive sum of $1.5 million. Marc Merill and Brandon Beck, co-founders of the company donated $500,000 each themselves with an additional $500,000 from the organization’s behalf. $900,000 from the total donation will be given to local non-profit organizations while $400,000 will go to Los Angeles Food Bank. $200,000 will be contributed towards the Mayor’s relief fund which takes care of childcare, costs of health care, and senior meals for the residents of Los Angeles. U.S needs all the help it can get as it currently has the highest number of cases in the world.
WeSave! Charity Play- charity DOTA 2 tournament
WePlay!, the Ukrainian esports giants announced a fully online charity Dota 2 event comprising of 24 of the best Dota 2 teams from around the world. Each of six major regions Europe, CIS, North, and South America, China and Southeast Asia had four teams playing for a prize pool of $120,000 altogether. Alongside the prize pool, all donations from the streams as well as sponsor contributions were diverted towards the cause. WePlay! managed to collect $188,880 in total and will contribute the amount to CEPI and GlobalGiving funds to develop a vaccine and for medical purposes. As reported by Esports Charts, the total Hours Watched number of the tournament was 3.7M hours.
Aorus launches ‘Team-Up. Fight On’
Aorus, a brand promoted by Gigabyte launched Team-Up, Fight On campaign targeted to promote self-isolation and social distancing among the gaming youth. AORUS set up multiple online gaming events featuring popular titles like CS: GO, Rainbow 6 Siege, Rocket League, Apex Legends and PUBG Lite. Alongside that, Aorus organized a PUBG Mobile Tournament featuring some of India’s biggest streamers like Shreeman Legend Live, Rakazone, Hydraflick, Gareebooo, and more. The event was live-streamed on all the invitees’ youtube channels and the participating streamers will be donating all of their earnings from the event. Aorus also made a generous donation of INR 1,00,000 for the cause.
Other than the aforementioned efforts, there are countless more benefactions and they are so vast in numbers that it is impossible to cover them all. Recently, TalkEsport as well joined the cause by donating an amount of INR 50,000 to PM-Cares fund. We urge all our readers to contribute in any way possible and to join this battle in which eventually, we will emerge victorious.
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