In the third week of a war that has already scattered thousands of lives across Ukraine's bombed towns, a small community of game makers and their buyers has done what people have long done in hard times: pooled many small acts into one considerable gift. On March 18, 2022, Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft Games closed an Itch.io bundle with more than $US6.3 million for the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children, a sum that dwarfed its modest first goal. Running alongside it, a Humble Bundle collection of nearly 100 games had already passed $US6 million with days left to run, and tog
Two Charity Game Bundles Pass $12 Million Combined for Ukraine Relief
Thousands have died in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and many have fled their homes as towns are bombed by missiles.
More than sixty times its first target
Mark
Two bundles, over twelve million dollars. Where does that number come from?
Mimi
Roughly six million each. Itch.io's bundle is finished at $6,370,557, and Humble's had passed six million with six days left.
Luke
Worth separating those. The Itch figure is a final total, posted by the organiser himself. The Humble one is a mid-run figure the writer saw at the time of writing.
Mark
So twelve million is a floor for now?
Mimi
Yes, and the writer expects Humble to go well beyond six million. That's his expectation, not a reported result.
Luke
Right, so I'd treat the forecast as a guess until the bundle closes.
Mark
What made the Itch bundle work?
Mimi
Scale and price. Nearly 1,000 games for $10, and a first goal of only $100,000 that was passed fast. It had $1.5 million after 24 hours.
Luke
The article calls the games' value an estimated figure, and the number is garbled in the text I have, so I wouldn't lean on it.
Mark
Do we know how the money is divided between the two charities?
Mimi
Only that it's split between the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children. No proportions are given.
Luke
And nothing here says how or when the funds reach people in Ukraine. That's unknown from this reporting.
Der Puls
- A war that has killed thousands and driven families from their homes is pushing players toward a $10 download and a $40 bundle as a way to act.
- Itch.io's Bundle for Ukraine blew past its $100,000 goal within a day and closed at over $6.3 million, leaving organisers stunned by its reach.
- Humble Bundle's near-100-game package crossed $6 million with six days left, racing toward a final figure that may climb well beyond its current pace.
- The two drives have together raised more than $12 million for relief groups, putting them within reach of the $8.1 million record set by the 2020 Racial Justice and Equality bundle.
- The Itch.io total is locked in, while the Humble tally is still rising as the clock runs down.
In the third week of a war that has already scattered thousands of lives across Ukraine's bombed towns, a small community of game makers and their buyers has done what people have long done in hard times: pooled many small acts into one considerable gift. On March 18, 2022, Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft Games closed an Itch.io bundle with more than $US6.3 million for the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children, a sum that dwarfed its modest first goal. Running alongside it, a Humble Bundle collection of nearly 100 games had already passed $US6 million with days left to run, and together the two efforts stand above $US12 million. It is a quiet reminder that across a distant conflict, ordinary people still reach for the nearest means of help they have.
On March 18, 2022, Brandon Sheffield, director of Necrosoft Games, posted a short message on Twitter with a final number: over $6.3 million from the Bundle for Ukraine on Itch.io. The money will be split between the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children. The exact total was $US6,370,557.
Sheffield had put the package together himself. It held nearly 1,000 games and cost buyers just $US10, with every dollar going to the two charities. His goal was $100,000. That was passed quickly, and within a day the bundle had brought in more than $1.5 million. By the time it closed, it had raised more than sixty times that first target. In his post he thanked everyone who had taken part and wrote that he hoped peace would come soon to Ukraine.
A second effort, Humble Bundle's collection of nearly 100 games and comics, was still running. Titles in it include Back 4 Blood, Fable, Metro Exodus and Kerbal Space Program, and it costs $US40. It had already passed $US6 million with six days remaining. Together the two bundles have raised more than $US12 million for people harmed by Russia's invasion, an attack the article describes as illegal and one that has killed thousands and forced many to flee as missiles strike their towns.
Game charity bundles have become a proven way to turn small purchases into large sums. The Racial Justice and Equality bundle of 2020 raised $US8,149,814, and the Ukraine drives are now approaching that mark. The Itch.io total is final. The Humble figure, which may still rise, will be known when its sale closes in about a week.
On March 18, 2022, Brandon Sheffield, the director of Necrosoft Games, posted a short message on Twitter with a final number: over $6.3 million, to be split between the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children. The figure closed out the Bundle for Ukraine on Itch.io, the indie storefront where it had been on sale since March 7. The source gives the exact total as $US6,370,557.
Sheffield had organised the package himself. It gathered nearly 1,000 games into a single download, with an estimated combined value of about $US6,500 (the source's garbled figure reads that way), and buyers could have the whole lot for $US10. Every dollar raised went to the two groups named above. In his post, Sheffield thanked contributors and wrote that he hoped peace would come soon to Ukraine. He said he would write a longer thread the following day.
The starting ambition was modest. The bundle's original goal was $US100,000. It cleared that quickly, and within 24 hours it had raised just over $US1.5 million. By the time it closed, it had collected more than sixty times its first target.
A second bundle is running alongside it. Humble Bundle has assembled its own charity collection for Ukraine, made up of nearly 100 games and comics. Titles named in the source include Back 4 Blood, Fable, Metro Exodus, Quantum Break, PGA Tour 2K21, Kerbal Space Program and Amnesia. The full set costs $US40. When the Kotaku Australia writer filed the story, that bundle had already passed $US6 million, with six days still on the clock. The writer expected it to finish well above that mark, though that is a forecast, not a result.
Together the two bundles have raised more than $US12 million, all of it directed to people affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The source describes the invasion as illegal and notes that it has caused thousands of deaths. Many people have fled the country as missiles hit their homes and towns. Several governments, the United States among them, have responded with economic sanctions aimed at Russia and Vladimir Putin, and a number of private companies have been withdrawing their business from the country.
Large, deeply discounted charity bundles have become an established way for people to pool small purchases into large sums. The article points to a precedent from 2020: Itch's Racial Justice and Equality bundle, a similarly sized collection of games, raised $US8,149,814 for two organisations, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Community Bail Fund. That remains the larger of the totals mentioned here, and the Ukraine bundles are now approaching or sitting in the same range.
What to watch is the Humble Bundle's final tally when it closes in about a week. The Itch.io number is final; the Humble one is still climbing.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The final number: over $6.3m to split between IMC and Voices of Children, and may there soon be peace in Ukraine.— Brandon Sheffield, Necrosoft Games director (paraphrased from Twitter, March 18, 2022)
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