Minit, one of over 740 games included in Itch.io's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. — AFP Relaxnews
Each day, ETX Studio puts the spotlight on a number that stands out for making headlines in one way or another. Today, it's the US$2mil (RM8.5mil) that independent video game retailer Itch.io raised for civil rights nonprofits over the weekend thanks to its US$5 (RM21) collection Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality and the 564 studios committing 742 games to it.
When site founder Leaf Corcoran called for contributions to the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality (itch.io/b/520) last week, he might not have anticipated over 560 studios taking part.
Game creators' combined response resulted in a US$3,400+ (RM14,489) value bundle filled with 740+ titles, and the content of this bundle may outweigh any other to date.
All proceeds are split 50/50 between the US NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Community Bail Fund; with a minimum purchase price set at US$5, visitors have pitched in an average of US$11.56 (RM49.26) at the time of writing.
A small proportion of the bundle's contents were always completely pay-what-you-want, but a hefty chunk are some of the site's most prestigious paid attractions.
Those include hit town exploration Night In The Woods, stylish heist thriller Quadrilateral Cowboy, unusually reflective business sim A Mortician's Tale, kitchen recipe rush Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2 and Grim Reaper office job Death & Taxes.
As well as computer games, there are books, board games, comics, asset packs, and card and tabletop games in the mix.
Perhaps not as well known as Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation, Itch.io is still a hub for the indie game community.
It's popular with prominent content creators and inquisitive game fans alike for the trove of exciting, novel titles contained within a quarter-of-a-million strong catalogue.
Meanwhile, store policy lets developers set not only prices but also store commission rates. Visitors can pay more than the asking price if they want to.
That's part of what made the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality such an astronomical success.
Launched around midnight on June 6 (UTC), the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality cleared US$2mil by the evening of June 7.
It runs until 10am UTC on June 16. For conversion into your local time, see timeanddate.com. – AFP Relaxnews
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