To raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), Blizzard has developed a limited-time pink skin for their Overwatch character Mercy. Since the start of the campaign, only ten days ago, gamers already raised almost $10m for research. Some people might think that ego-shooters turn kids into killers, but these gamers right there have changed the world for the better already.
Players who choose to purchase this skin can then activate it for their game and switch Mercy into her new outfit after that. Mercy, also known as Dr. Angela Ziegler, is a Swiss medical prodigy and healer in the game. Using her for this particular cause made sense.
What can you do to help?
This charity sale will continue until May 21, so you still have some time to log in and buy your skin. Even if you’re only a casual gamer of Overwatch you should think about this, it’s still for a good cause. Blizzard confirmed that they will indeed donate 100% of the campaign’s proceeds to the BCRF to eradicate breast cancer. The skin costs $14.99 and can also be purchased as a gift to other players on some platforms.
Next to the sale of the Pink Mercy skin, Blizzard is also selling shirts with Pink Mercy on them, even though she looks a little Sailor Moon-esque here, it’s still looking cool, and there’s a cool Overwatch icon on the back. The shirts are available on the Blizzard store for $30. But you can help even further than that. You can also support by watching the charity streams on Twitch and buy drops or emotes there. For more details and streaming schedules, you should check out their campaign post here.
It’s not all black and white
Blizzard is the maker of game franchises such as Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and of course, Overwatch. Loved by fans, they are still often criticized for being too commercial and trying to get as much return out of their games as possible. Games like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm have been designed to follow trends, and while they don’t cost anything to play, they follow practices to motivate gamers to engage in micro-transactions.
To some, this put Blizzard in a light they haven’t seen the company in before. Others expected such behavior since the start of one of the most successful MMORPGs in our time, World of Warcraft. I think it’s a necessity for companies to make money. This is what they pay developers and creative with. This is how games are made. It’s an industry that we are a part of as consumers and customers. On the other hand, it feels good to see that successful companies also make great efforts to support good causes and manage campaigns such as this one.
How to get the skin?
If you don’t have the game installed right now or if you’re not at home while reading this, you can still go to the Pink Mercy micro-site and purchase from there. Of course, you can still contribute to cancer research in any way you see fit even after the Blizzard campaign has ended. Doing good things has no deadline.
YouTube: [NOW AVAILABLE] Pink Mercy | Support BCRF | Overwatch
Photo credit: All images have been provided by Blizzard.
Source: Blizzard blog post
