Gamers are often portrayed in a bad light including associating them with social misdemeanors. However, some studios and publishers are showing that games can be a force for good. Video game publisher Outright Games, Australian indie maker Studio Folly, and Humble Bundle have all committed to donating a percentage of their video game profits to charity.
Through a press release on November 16, Outright Games announced that it would donate video game profits from all digital sales (up to £100,000 made in a 24-hour window) to UNICEF. The gesture was to mark World Children’s Day which will be celebrated on November 20, 2023.
“It has been an incredible 2023 so far, working with such an impactful partner as UNICEF to help the world’s most vulnerable children,” said Stephanie Malham, COO of Outright Games. “We really wanted to mark World Children’s Day in a meaningful way as this is an incredibly important time to help raise awareness for the rights of children around the world.”
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Outright Games is a leading publisher of family-friendly video games using popular children’s entertainment IPs. Their partnership with UNICEF, the non-profit committed to creating a better world for children began in May 2023. The partnership positioned Outright Games as UNICEF UK’s first official long-term video game industry partner.
“Outright Games has always put family at the forefront of everything we do and we can’t wait to see how much we can raise on the day to support UNICEF’s fantastic work,” Malham said.
In addition to the 24-hour window donation, Outright Games has also committed to helping UNICEF raise a minimum of £200,000 annually by donating profits made from digital video game sales and specially themed bundles that will include their most popular titles.
Studio Folly commits 10% of profits to charity
The Australian indie developers that launched the mobile puzzle game Gubbins on Android and iOS have committed 10% of their profits to charity. The pledge was part of the caveat for a funding deal the studio struck with The Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck (TFDWS) director, Hank Green.
TFDWA is a non-profit that generates awareness of charities that assist people in need. The foundation has previously raised and distributed money to organizations like Sustainability Matters, War Child, UNICEF, The Trevor Project, Partners in Health, and Save the Children.
On the day that Gubbins was launched (November 14), Green took to X to share a thread that both highlighted the struggles of indie game developers and subtly advertised the new game that Chris Kerr of Game Developer described as “Scrabble on acid”.
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“A few months ago, I saw a TikTok about a word game called “Gubbins” that was being produced by a small indie game studio in Australia (@folly_studio) and I messaged the people creating it,” Green began. “I got early access to the game and absolutely loved it. It’s fun, simple, fast, clever, and most of all absolutely delightful. It’s just a little piece of art that is part of my daily life now.”
“We got on the phone and they talked about how freaking hard it is to do anything interesting in the mobile game space and how they were having a difficult financial time making it to the finish line. I made a weird proposal. I offered them a fair-sized hunk of cash and, in return, I asked that they donate 10% of the profit of the game to The Foundation to Decrease Wordsuck.”
Hank Green
Studio Folly agreed to the deal. Gubbins is a free-to-play game that has paid features including infinite play, special game modes, and different postcard backgrounds which according to Green are “reasonably priced”. So, whenever you participate in the game’s micro-transactions, know that it is going towards a good cause.
Humble Bundle donates 5% of membership fee to charity
Since launching the first Humble bundle in 2010, the company has made raising money for charity a part of its core values. When gamers purchase a bundle or subscribe to the Humble Choice membership, part of the proceeds goes to charity. To date, the company has raised over $240 million for charity.
Humble works with charities in five key focus areas namely climate change and sustainability, equity and opportunity, disaster and crisis relief, health and well-being, and quality education. Some of the non-profits they have partnered with include Charity Water, Girls Who Code, Malala Fund, Child’s Play, OneTreePlanted, ACLU, Special Effect, and Direct Relief.
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“In 2020, we established the Black Game Developer Fund, which contributes resources, guidance, and other support to Black game developers, who have long lacked the type of access fundamental to having a level playing field in the industry,” the company wrote.
Humble is currently running a Holiday Deal which gives players access to a year of games for $99 when they use the code HOLIDAY23 while signing up. The promo ends December 31 after which the price reverts to $129. While you save 20%, the company will donate 5% of every signup fee to Child’s Play.
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