Children’s charity, War Child UK, has joined forces with some of the biggest games in the world for War Child’s Armistice – the award-winning fundraising campaign, which encourages peaceful gameplay in support of children affected by conflict.
Launching today (9 November) and running throughout the festive season, War Child’s Armistice offers players a mixture of thrilling in-game events, peaceful playthrough options, exclusive downloadable content (DLC), and timed exclusive purchasable in-game items, all in aid of War Child UK.
The campaign, which first launched in 2016, is supported once again by BlackMill Games & M2H, Wargaming.net, Positech Games and joined for the first time by, Big Huge Games, Flaregames, 11 bit Studios, Focus Home Interactive, XSplit and Extra Credits, with more exciting partners to be announced soon.
War Child’s Armistice aims to build on last year’s success, where over a million gamers engaged in the campaign, in an effort to create a global movement that inspires the gaming community to take action and raise vital funds for children whose lives have been torn apart by war.
Children like Malak, 12, from Mosul who was kept hostage by Daesh and denied access to education for three years, leaving her vulnerable and extremely distressed. Today, Malak enjoys playing games on the mobile phone she shares with her family and finds it is therapeutic and supporting of her journey to recovery.
Wayne Emanuel, Gaming Development Manager at War Child, says: “We are thrilled to be working with some amazing studios for a second year and are really excited to be uniting new developers across mobile and console* in what has now become an annual fundraiser for War Child UK.
“Together, we want to give players access to new content in their favorite games and for them to join us in raising vital funds and awareness of some of the challenges faced by the world’s most disadvantaged children.
“All the money raised will help us reach even more children like Malek affected by conflict, rebuild their shattered societies and foster a more peaceful future.”
Speaking about the campaign, Jos Hoebe from Blackmill Games and Verdun Co-Founder says: “We hope our two minute silence Armistice event will lead people to reflect on the First World War and how it has had lasting consequences for adults and children long after the fighting stopped, as all wars do. War Child is doing great work to raise awareness of the long term effects of war and to help children affected by war, and we are glad to support them.”
Tim Train, Chief Executive at Big Huge Games, says: “We are deeply thankful for War Child’s commitment to help the most vulnerable children living in war-torn countries. Big Huge Games is proud to support the Armistice initiative, and we are happy to give DomiNations players the opportunity to help fund these critical programs.”
Last year War Child’s Armistice raised over £100,000 in just eight weeks, making it one of the most successful campaigns in War Child’s history.
War Child UK, together with its partners, work in 15 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and Latin America providing protection, education and standing up for the rights of children caught up in conflict.
For more information about Armistice and the gaming studios that are participating, visit www.warchildarmistice.org or follow @WarChild_Gaming on Twitter.