What might have seemed like months ago only happened to be a handful of weeks as organizers Informa Tech announced that the year’s annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) would be pushed to a later date aimed sometime in the summer. Later on, the orchestrators for the show announced that the event will commence the first week of August later this year.
However, despite the new schedule established for the conference, the abrupt replanning for GDC ultimate affected developers negatively. While not specifically companies like Sony Interactive Entertainment and Oculus who retracted their attendance in advanced, but the smaller studios that couldn’t afford to pull their roll call from the show. The rescheduling unfortunately left several teams in a financial disadvantage due to the decision swayed by the novel coronavirus.
Fortunately, Wings Interactive alongside GameDev.World partnered together alongside a dozen or more developers and organizations to form the GDC Relief Fund to assist those teams who were affected by the unprecedented timing last month. It was revealed today that after being established nearly a month ago, the GDC Relief Fund has accumulated $289,000 in donations.
The games industry community, particularly through gamedev.world’s fundraising efforts, has shown astonishing generosity to indie game developers struggling with the impact of GDC’s sudden cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cassia Curran, Wings Interactive Head of Business
Alongside the efforts put into place by Wings Interactive, it was revealed that the combined donations of $81,000 collected during the GameDev.World livestream fundraiser meets the nearly $290K accumulated altogether. The sum collected will surely help benefit the smaller independent studios that have fallen victim due to the untimely matter.
With tensions that continue to gain a vice grip on people in the video game industry and those who avidly play during this crisis, charity organization Safe In Our World has established a COVID-19 Hub to help people who need assistance with their mental wellbeing. The new hub offers individuals in need advice to deal with the situation at hand and even recommends games to play to remedy your anxiety.
To continue support for those affected by the ongoing global pandemic, Rectify Gaming will be hosting a day long Relief Stream to raise funds for people who’ve been troubled by the impact of COVID-19. You can read the full announcement by heading here.
Did you help in the efforts for the GDC Relief Fund?
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
