Fall Guys Auction raises $1M
Monday, August 31st, 2020
A Battle of the Brands auction for a character costume design in the hit video game Fall Guys has raised $1M for SpecialEffect.
The online auction, organised by the game’s creators Mediatonic and Devolver, saw a bidding war that included some of the video game community’s most popular streamers. A last-minute combined donation of $1M by @MrBeastYT, @Ninja, @G2esports and @aimlab was the highest bid.
The winners have also announced that they will be organising a livestream in support of the charity. More details will be announced in due course.
“We’re blown away,” said Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect. “A huge thank you to @MrBeastYT, @Ninja, @G2esports and @aimlab for their amazing generosity, and to Mediatonic and Devolver Digital for this unique initiative.”
“When the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions hit earlier this year, the charity was facing a significant reduction in funding income due, in part, to many of its key fundraising events being cancelled or postponed. As a charity that doesn’t charge for its services, this donation will be invaluable in helping to make up for that shortfall. It will enable us to continue an uninterrupted service for the many people with severe physical disabilities and developers around the world who are asking for our help in ever greater numbers year on year. What’s more, the demands on our services are rising even more rapidly as a result of the auction itself. Bring it on!”
We’ll be able to help more people like Aaron, whose spinal muscular atrophy severely restricts his movements. Our assessment team helped him to be able to play again to the best of his abilities with a customised setup loan that he uses with his feet and fingers.
“With my disability, I’m limited in doing things,” said Aaron. “Gaming has really opened up the door for me and my life is back to the way it was. I can play games, I have a social network like I did before, I have friends. It helps connect you to other people.”
The donation will boost all aspects of our work, including the development of a range of globally available resources for accessible gaming such as EyeMine, a utility for playing Minecraft with eye-control. We also provide support and advice for software development, helping the likes of EA, Playground Games, DoubleFine, and Rare to make games like Forza Motorsport, FIFA, and Sea of Thieves more easily playable.
Below: Eight year-old Theo is a huge fan of obstacle games, but the games controller and iPad were too hard for him. Our assessment team recently set him up with a special joystick and buttons combo. Since then it’s been much easier for him to play and he’s now having a blast with Fall Guys!