As 2021 drew to a close, the long-running Yogcast Jingle Jam charity bundle event returned for its latest instalment, this time taking the form of a truly spectacular 56-game bundle - and organisers have now confirmed the endeavour raised a total of £3.3m for good causes.
2021’s bundle was impressive enough from a content perspective, gathering up the likes Eurogamer’s Essential-rated Widermyth, linguistics adventure Heaven’s Vault, Viking strategy Northguard, top-down action-adventure Hyper Light Drifter, plus Surviving Mars, Murder by Numbers, 20XX, and a load more. It was absolutely unmissable from a value perspective, however, amounting to around £650 worth of games for anyone that donated £35 or more.
Unsurprisingly, plenty of people took Jingle Jam up on the offer, bolstering their Steam libraries with ample video game goodies and contributing to a range of good causes in the process, with donaters able to select from a shortlist of 14 charities that included the likes of Special Effect, War Child, and Cancer Research UK.
A further $690,000 (around £509,000) was raised by 50 streamers, bringing Jingle Jam’s 2021 total to £3,342,063.00/$4,435,933 USD - the most the event has raised in a year since 2017 - and that money will now be dispersed among all 14 charity projects: Access Sport, Autistica, Call of Duty Endowment, Cancer Research UK, End Violence and Racism Against ESEA, Global’s Make Some Noise, ILGA World, Lifelites, Mental Health Foundation, Special Effect, The Grand Appeal, The Open Bionics Foundation, War Child, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.
Last year marked Jingle Jam’s tenth anniversary, and its latest charity initiative brings its lifetime total of charitable donations up to $24,945,581 (over £18.3 million).
“After a difficult year for many it was really nice to end it on an emotional high,” Lewis Brindley, co-founder of The Yogscast, said in a statement accompanying today’s news. “I’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who gave their time, passion, expertise and games to make this such a huge success. We can’t wait to see how these charitable projects evolve over 2022 and benefit those who are in need.”
