Armistice gaming raises $380k for War Child UK and its US partner
Howard Lake | 13 March 2019 | News
The month-long Armistice gaming campaign has raised $380,000 for War Child UK and its US partner Children in Conflict.
This brings the total raised by the annual Armistice campaign for the charities since 2016 to $759,695.
Last November the charities which help children affected by war worked with 20 major gaming studios to offer the gaming community a chance to participate in peaceful gameplay through exclusive content. Participants could raise funds and donate through a Steam, Amazon App Store and Google Play sale and live streams.
The Armistice gaming campaign aims to raise awareness of the realities of conflict for children around the world by creating conversation about the effects on war “at the point of maximum contrast in conflict themed games”.
In the past year this has included:
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- content for World War I title, 11-11: Memories Retold through a series of letters, drawings and photographs found throughout the narrative adventure inspired by real life stories from the children supported by War Child
- a Peace Stand in Prison Architect
- and for the first time a Virtual Reality collaboration with Dick Wilde.
Lionel Lovisa, Producer for 11-11: Memories Retold at Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe said: “We wanted to make a game that goes beyond traditional entertainment. With that in mind, working together with War Child UK made a lot of sense.
“Bringing more fun to everyone is the mission of Bandai Namco Entertainment but we know that “fun” can be a privilege that many can’t afford. We hope the 11-11: Memories Retold charity DLC [downloadable content] will help War Child accomplish more today while it also reminds everyone about the human realities of being drawn into conflict.”
Artiom Muraska, Regional Publishing Director, WoT Europe, which has supported Armistice from the beginning, commented; “We were thrilled and honoured for the third consecutive year to once again be part of the Armistice Campaign supporting the incredible and invaluable work that War Child UK do. The response from our amazing World Of Tanks players was overwhelming and a resounding success beating all previous years.”
War Child and gaming
War Child has developed fundraising partnerships across the PC, console and mobile industries, as well as through streaming and support from the gaming community. So far it has raised $4.3million through gaming.
The money raised goes towards funding War Child programmes; from supporting Syrian children to access education, to reintegrating child soldiers in the Central African Republic and promoting justice for young people in detention in Afghanistan.
Wayne Emanuel, Head of Gaming Partnerships, War Child UK, said: “The gaming sector deserves huge recognition for the backing it has given and the funds it has raised so far on our journey. We intend to continue growing Armistice and working with as many conflict-themed games as possible to raise awareness and support children who have felt the effects of war.
“With such engagement and a strong sense of community from gamers and willingness to support from developers, publishers and platforms, there is an enormous opportunity to make gaming a platform for positive change.”
2019 plans
In 2019 War Child’s work with gaming will continue with RE-PLAY in April, taking players back to their childhood favourites with downloadable retro themed games and events.
More War Child fundraising
- War Child UK launches music-led fundraising platform (4 November 2021)
- War Child creates fastest charity album (12 August 2005)
- War Child UK hands back £41,000 (17 January 2001)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.