If you haven’t heard, Itch.io has put together a monumental bundle with all of the proceeds going to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Community Bail Fund. Currently, the bundle has 1,658 titles that are all yours for the low price of $5, and you get to do some good while you play games.
Win-win.
It’s not even shovel-ware; these are gems that have yet to be discovered, along with some gems that have already been polished: Celeste is in the mix here along with BEACON, A Mortician’s Tale, and Airships: Conquer The Skies.
The bundle is scheduled to last until this coming Monday night, on June 15 at midnight.
When setting up the bundle, Itch.io has set forth a preposterous goal of $5,000,000 raised for the various funds and blasted through that Thursday morning. Now, as time of writing, the bundle has currently raised $5,756,575 and looks like it will break six million dollars raised before the bundle is over.
Staggering numbers for a fantastic cause, supported by talented developers and fans alike that are focusing on two things; wonderful games and ensuring that all citizens have a voice in the country; note that the bundle primarily supports United States organizations.
Further, note that you can opt to pay as much as you want: $5 is simply the minimum necessary for the bundle.
In relatively uncertain times, the game industry has made more offerings than most, bringing play and activism together. This isn’t a nod towards every soulless company out there changing their profile icons to black and white ‘in solidarity’, but more so a notice of how many developers and companies have been working together to help in recent months.
Beginning with COVID-19, Edmund McMillen offered a massive sale for his titles (ranging from Binding of Isaac to Legend of Bumbo) that saw the steepest discounts yet for the titles that have ever been seen. The proceeds went to charity to help the world protect the vulnerable from the threat of COVID-19.
Then a police officer murdered a black man in broad daylight, and the entire nation shifted from COVID-19 to protesting against the wild police brutality that has spiraled out of control over the past decades, and developers and companies locked step by ensuring that there were more than enough attempts to ensure charities would be well-equipped to deal with the long-term repercussions that are inevitable when change is necessary.
Time and again this year, throughout the unjust and bizarre occurrences, the game industry have been working on ensuring that even the uncaring would take notice. That just might be the biggest achievement of them all.
