UK charity SpecialEffect, which helps people with disabilities use assistive technology to play video games, has announced details of its annual GameBlast fundraising initiative.
This year, it’s joined forces with the likes of retailer GAME once again, developers including Frontier Developments, online competitive gaming platform ChallengerMode and others for GameBlast, which runs next weekend from February 21st to 23rd.
ChallengerMode will run a new ‘play at home’ 5v5 CSGO tournament on Sunday February 23rd from 10am called Challenger Chicken: GameBlast Edition. It’s from the team behind Chicken for Charity – SpecialEffect’s PUBG fundraiser, a concept devised by Sega’s Charlotte Rouget Murphy.
Organisers are looking to recruit up to 64 teams, from the likes of games industry companies, student societies and amateur esports organisations. Entry is €10 per player, with all fees being donated to SpecialEffect. To sign-up, visit this page here.
Elsewhere, Elite developer Frontier Developments will be kicking off proceedings at 12pm on Friday 21st, followed later that evening by Sega Europe at 6pm.
GAME will then pick up the livestream baton for 24 hours at 10pm on Saturday 22nd, backed up by a host of GAME stores and Belong Arenas running regional fundraisers up and down the country.
In terms of new activities for 2020, Big Potato Games has partnered with SpecialEffect to offer free game packs for streamers interested in adding some table-top play into the mix.
“This will be the seventh year of GameBlast and we’re always looking for new ideas to add to the mix,” commented Tom Donegan of SpecialEffect.
“We’ve been working on the idea of running a charity tournament with Charlotte and Philip for over a year, so it’s fantastic to be finally bringing Challenger Chicken to life!
“The money raised will make a big difference, as we work to keep pace with rising demand for our services from disabled gamers across the UK.”
GameBlast will be live streamed on Twitch and donations can be made via this GameBlast 20 Just Giving page.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
