Bethesda aiding in COVID-19 relief efforts with $1,000,000 donation

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Bethesda is the latest in a line of video game companies to join in with the efforts to help communities recover in the face of COVID-19. 

The Fallout and Elder Scrolls publisher is donating $1,000,000 to charities and organisations on the frontlines of the crisis and gave a rundown on their website of how they would be dividing the money up across different organisations.

The publisher plans to help both local and international relief efforts, with $500,000 going to Direct Relief — who Bethesda point out are heavily involved in the key work of providing personal protective equipment — and the other $500,000 being split between UNICEF and local COVID-19 relief efforts, chosen by individual studios across Bethesda’s international offices.

Bethesda is also encouraging people to stay keep connected and keep their spirits up during these challenging times by getting involved in the #BethesdaAtHome campaign, where gamers can watch Twitch streams hosted by the folks at Bethesda from their offices at home. In the statement released on their website, the publisher said that it wants to “encourage you to find ways to stay connected to others while we continue to observe social distancing guidelines in an effort to keep everyone safe and healthy”. 

The COVID-19 crisis has had a significant effect on the gaming world; it has halted the release and development of games, such as The Last of Us 2, while major events such as E3 have been postponed indefinitely or cancelled. Where the industry has faced adversities recently, though, we have also seen lots of efforts being made by developers and publishers, as plenty of games are now free to play (opens in new tab) and been made more accessible for all in these unusual circumstances. At least, as the world adjusts to the impact of this pandemic, Bethesda and other key players in the industry are doing their bit to try and help out where they can.

There are lots of other ways in which the video game world is coming together to provide relief as we grapple with COVID-19. Here are the efforts currently being made.