International Day of the Girl will be this October 11th, and several gaming companies will be participating. Multiple gaming studios, Twitch Streamers, YouTubers, and game stores will host live charity events to help raise money and awareness around the world on Friday.
Steam, Google Play, and Chono.gg will have price cuts on several titles in celebration of the day. Most of the discounted games include titles with women as lead characters such as Inkle, 505 Games, and Supergiant. Meanwhile, Twitch streamers such as OpheliaNoir and Kattstrike, as well as the Yogcast member Hanna Rutherford, will host streams. Even gaming studios such as Blizzard, Chucklefish, and Turtle Rock will each hold their own live charity streams on Friday.
International Day of the Girl is an event first created by the United Nations in 2012. The day focuses on the dual aspects of recognition and empowerment: recognition of the challenges of girls and how to empower them to meet those challenges. This year’s theme is “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.”
Several studios have even partnered with War Child UK to help raise awareness and charity funds for girls trapped within warzones around the world. According to gamesindustry.biz, just last year, War Child UK raised $380,000 from a similar fundraiser with the gaming industry.
Despite the charity work, Blizzard, the developers behind World of Warcraft, and Chucklefish, the publisher for Stardew Valley, have faced some controversy in recent weeks. Chucklefish faced allegations that the company failed to pay its workers for their labor, and Blizzard suspended a Hearthstone Grandmasters player for supporting on-going protests in Hong Kong.
Chucklefish admitted to not paying developers for its game Starbound but claimed all developers were credited or remunerated according to the original contracts. The allegations first emerged on Twitter and had to do with the studio’s 2016 game Starbound.
For Blizzard, the issue started when one gamer, Chung Ng Wai, also known by their username, Blitzchung, wore a gas mask on a post-game stream and announced support for Hong Kong protesters. Hong Kong recently passed legal codes banning protesters from obscuring their faces within the city. Blizzard immediately banned Blitzchung for breaking competition rules.
Blizzard said they “stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions,” but they remained firm on the fact that players and other participants “must abide by the official competition rules.”
Friday’s International Day of the Girl looks like an excellent opportunity for both companies to ease their recent difficulties in the eyes of the public.
