Covid-19’s second wave has had a huge blow in India. With the increasing number of new cases, the medical and welfare fraternity is going through a challenging time. There has been scarcity of oxygen, hospital beds and other medical facilities, which has led to an increased number of fatality rates. The population of the country as of 2019 is 136.64 crores and to suffice everyone in crisis is not an easy task. During these challenging times, businesses from across the globe are coming forward to aid India and the gaming sector is of no exception. Here are some instances where the sector has extended their support to the ongoing Covid-19 relief efforts.
Some of the brands have partnered with NGOs like Give India, Hemkunt Foundation to provide the aid to the country and some are directly contributing to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations [PM CARES] Fund.
Krafton
PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds and PUBG Mobile have extended a hand of support in India’s fight against the deadly coronavirus. The Indian subsidiary of Krafton has donated a large sum of Rs 1.5 Crores to PM CARES Fund. The Indian subsidiary of Krafton is registered as ‘PUBG India Pvt. Ltd.’ and has pledged to aid India in its efforts to bring the new caseload under control. This donation is directly made to PM CARES Fund which is utilised for treating patients and boost the vaccination drive in India.
Talking about the big donation, the CEO of Krafton Changhan Kim said, “India is navigating a challenging time with the current wave of COVID-19. We remain committed to supporting the efforts of the Government in battling this unprecedented crisis. We hope our contribution to the PM CARES Fund will help the aid efforts currently operational on ground.”
OpraahFx
OpraahFx, an influencer marketing firm, and its gaming sub-brand OP Gaming in collaboration with YouTubers Slayy Point and Mythpat raised Rs 50+ lakhs for COVID relief by bringing together India’s gamers and influencers. 35+ Indian influencers joined a 7.5-hour YouTube live stream on 25 April. The funds raised by activity have been handed over to Hemkunt Foundation who is helping COVID patients with oxygen supply in the country.
The YouTube live stream was hosted by Slayy Point on Mythpat’s YouTube channel and influencers like Techno Gamerz, Kusha Kapila, Technical Guruji, Salonayy, Total Gaming, Ashish Chanchlani, Mythpat, Carry Minati, Viraj Ghelani, Abish Mathew, Ankush Bahuguna, BeYouNick, Tanmay Bhatt, Ranveer Allahbadia, Dolly Singh, and others joined the live stream. The event has garnered 10M+ total views and concurrent viewership of 200k. During the live stream, the influencers were seen playing online games, engaging with audiences to donate, and creating awareness about the pandemic.
Commenting on the initiative, OpraahFx founder Pranav Panpalia said, “Delighted to see such an overwhelming response from the audiences and influencers alike. Having hosted India’s biggest live stream with 35+ creators and raised Rs 50lakhs from a single live stream, we have created a historical donation drive in the country. Observing the healthcare emergency with the very large demand for necessary and medical resources in the country since the last few weeks, we decided to partner with Slayy Point and Mythpat do what we are great at – influencing people, for the right cause. Many influencers have been rigorously helping out people by sharing resource updates and donating to the causes that support them. With this campaign by OpraahFx, we aimed to bring together the entire influencer community which can help us generate more funds for the COVID relief and ultimately help the ones in need. We are proud to witness how the influencer’s community is working together and creating a larger social impact collectively.”
Razer
Singapore has sent four cryogenic oxygen containers aboard Indian Air Force aircraft, from Changi Airport in Singapore, which made many Indians actually take a sigh of relief. Razer CEO and founder Min-Liang-Tan In a tweet has asked if India was in need of surgical masks, stating, “Are surgical masks in need? I can see if we have some we can spare from our manufacturing line in Singapore to send over to India.”
Last year, when the world was hit with the pandemic and it experienced an immense shortage of masks and PPE, the gaming peripheral company announced it was turning one of its manufacturing facilities to manufacture face masks.
Mobile Premier League
Mobile Premier League (MPL) joined hands with Give India to organise ‘Gamers for India Fundraiser’ for Covid relief. India’s gaming community came together as part of the initiative on 15 May 2021 at 7 pm on MPL’s Facebook and YouTube handles to game, talk and raise funds. The live stream witnessed popular gamers including Kronten, Mortal, Scout, Regaltos and 8Bit participating.
PokerBaazi
PokerBaazi partnered with GiveIndia to help abate the current oxygen crisis in the country. In a quest to aid millions of Indians battling the ongoing pandemic, PokerBaazi had organised a tournament called the O2 initiative that promised to donate 100 per cent of the fees raised through the tournament to the NGO with the purpose of procuring oxygen cylinders. Channelizing this tournament, PokerBaazi has also come up with a video message which stands as a homage to all frontline workers, corona warriors and corporates who have stepped forward for the sake of humanity. The video narrates the resemblance between life and the game of poker that people strive to win.
BLITZPOOLS
Fantasy sports brand, BLITZPOOLS also aims to do the same by raising funds with help of the users of BLITZPOOLS by donating money for every team entered in their COVID-19 relief pool. The brand encourages fantasy players to be a part of this initiative by creating teams on Free Pool which will be named ‘COVID19 Relief’.
Speaking on the new initiative, BLITZPOOLS founders, the Assomull brothers, Vickram and Gaurav said, “It is a difficult time for our country, and we are all in this together. We need to fight this pandemic as one unit. Our users are an integral part of the BLITZPOOLS family and with their help we aim to achieve our goal of supporting the country. We at Blitzpools.com pledge our support for this battle against Covid-19. We will be launching a new pool on our app and the website for our users to participate and play for free in the ‘COVID19 Relief’ pool and all the proceeds will go to Helping Hand Foundation. We are happy to be associated with Helping Hands Foundation and thank them for their continuous efforts to make India a better place.”
Logitech
Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell has revealed that it is contributing $2million towards oxygen supply relief for India Despite the COVID crisis easing in some parts of the world, like Europe and North America. The situation is continuing to deteriorate in many countries, including India, where hospitals and crematoriums have been overwhelmed by the sick and dead.
Darrell’s official LinkedIn post revealed, “The spike in coronavirus cases in India is the worst in the world right now. Currently, the country is battling almost half a million active cases with the states of Delhi, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, among others, the hardest hit. With thousands of new cases and deaths every day across the country, the health care system in much of the country is overwhelmed. Keeping people alive and others from getting much worse requires oxygen. We, Logitech, are making our largest one time donation in history, $2 Million, to support oxygen through Oxygen for India. Oxygen for India is working with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), United Airlines, Tech Mahindra, and others to provide oxygen cylinders and oxygen concentrators to help those in need. I hope other companies and individuals will donate as well.”
Dream11
Dream11 has donated Rs 15 Cr GiveIndia and ACT Grants (a million each) to help with emergency Covid response efforts in India. “Half of this will be spent on solving the current problem of supplying medical equipment and hospital beds, and the other half will go towards supporting large scale vaccination drives. We will also be enabling donations through the Dream11 App very soon so that all Sportans (our employees), the 10 Crore+ users, and anyone else can contribute to this cause and expedite the war against Covid-19,” the company said in a public statement.
Adda52 Poker
Adda 52 has organised a week long poker tournament with the objective of providing fund for covid relief. The 2X of the revenue generated by this tournament will go to Covid relief fund through the two credible partners Act Grants and Hemkunt Foundation. The tournament received overwhelming response from the players as they also get a chance to contribute in the fund through play more help more model.