Thatgamecompany raises over $1 million in support of Doctors Without Borders' response to the pandemic

thatgamecompany (www.thatgamecompany.com) is happy to announce their support of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and OneTreePlanted as the non-profit partners of ‘Sky: Children of the Light’ this spring/summer. Alongside winning multiple awards and surpassing 20 Million downloads, ‘Sky’ has been widely-applauded for crafting a game that uniquely encourages positive and compassionate behaviors in its design and community.

thatgamecompany launched a ‘Days of Healing’ campaign in ‘Sky’ where players could purchase a special flower accessory pack to show their gratitude to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and donated 100% of net proceeds to MSF. As the four-week campaign wrapped, the community raised a staggering $1,027,340 to support MSF’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The campaign also highlighted the game industry’s #PlayApartTogether movement to bring together players online, while they were socially distanced. Additionally, the studio shared tips on how players could stay safe across their social networks.

"Doctors Without Borders is extremely grateful for the generous support of thatgamecompany and the Sky community," said Avril Benoît, the organization’s Executive Director in the United States. "As we face an unprecedented global health crisis, we rely on this generosity to respond to this emergency and to continue providing medical care in over 70 countries.

Jenova Chen, thatgamecompany’s co-Founder and Creative Director added: “We are so overwhelmed by the generosity of Sky’s global community. Originally, we asked how could our studio help during the pandemic? We couldn’t have predicted the altruistic behaviors in-game would translate to real life action and giving to frontline workers. Our team is so moved by the word-of-mouth and support Sky has inspired during this pandemic.”

Earlier in the year, thatgamecompany also launched a limited-time ‘Days of Nature’ Earth Day event, which promoted the environmental themes and offered an Earth-cape for ‘Sky’ players to purchase. For every Earth-cape purchased the studio planted a tree in the real world, with 40,576 trees in total planted across the Amazonian and Australian forests damaged by wildfires.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care, regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. MSF teams are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple fronts – caring for patients, offering health education and mental health support, and providing training for vital infection control measures in health facilities around the world.

Founded in 2006, thatgamecompany is committed to developing broadly accessible, artistic, emotional and enriching experiences, including award-winning titles flOw, Flower, Journey and Sky. Their work has exhibited in galleries and exhibitions across the globe, including the induction into Smithsonian’s permanent collection. The hope is to expand the range of emotional experiences possible in video games, so that it can be enjoyed and loved by people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds.