More than 700 game developers have bundled nearly 1,000 games together, for $10, to support two charities aiding civilians in besieged Ukraine.
The DRM-free itch.io Bundle for Ukraine, available until Friday, March 18, has some top flight, full-size indie titles inside its voluminous catalogue, too. The bundle includes last year’s Skatebird (which launched on Xbox Game Pass); Kingdom Two Crowns; the outstanding puzzle game Baba is You; 2018’s award winning platformer Celeste; and indie mainstays Super Hexagon and Superhot.
There are 566 more video games, plus 317 rulesets for tabletop games, 22 digital books, 10 soundtracks, nine comics, and other downloads. The minimum donation is $10; Gunhouse developer Necrosoft Games, which is hosting the Bundle for Ukraine, urges donations above that amount, however.
“We kept the minimum low, but we highly urge you to pay above the minimum if you can afford to do so,” the studio said. “All proceeds will be split between the charities 50/50.”
Most (515) of the video games are available for Windows PC. There are 286 and 228 games for Mac and Linux, respectively, with the remainder browser-based or playable on Android devices.
The two beneficiaries are Voices of Children and International Medical Corps. Voices of Children is a Ukrainian organization that helps children cope with the trauma of war, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other challenges specific to kids. International Medical Corps provides medical assistance to the region. Necrosoft notes that their fundraising overhead is 1% of the charity’s income, and only 10% of that revenue goes to administration.
In about eight hours of availability, the Bundle for Ukraine is already more than 75% of the way toward its $1 million goal, with more than 53,000 contributors giving an average of about $15 each. The top individual contribution so far is $1,694.20.
Necrosoft’s Brandon Sheffield last week announced he was organizing the bundle. “We stand with Ukrainians, and with all people around the world who despise war,” Necrosoft wrote on the bundle’s page. All products in the bundle are available as direct downloads from the itch.io page.
Source: Polygon
