Blizzard Raises $1.7M for Make-A-Wish Foundation

SBFord

Blizzard Raises $1.7M for Make-A-Wish Foundation

Blizzard has revealed that over $1.7M has been raised for the Make-A-Wish America and Make-A-Wish International through the sales of the World of Warcraft battle pet, Brightpaw. During the month of December, 100% of all pets sold went to Make-A-Wish.

Read the full story here

Talonsin

On the one hand, I really appreciate when companies do things to help the rest of the world and not just line their own pockets. Hats off to Blizzard and CCP and the others who try and make the world a better place.

On the other hand, I am disappointed that Blizzard decided to only donate the money that players gave. At 7 million subscribers, they take in over 100 million a month just from subs then figure in the cash shop and merchandise and the total is way beyond that. They could not even donate some of their own money?

(Note: my understanding is that Blizzard sold an item in the cash shop and used the money from those sales to donate, they did not match it or anything like that. If they did, I will edit my post.)

Adjuvant1

I think this is great.

When I criticize promotions like this, it's when only, say, 50% goes to charity. Then I see the "charity drive" as only promotion and bad form. This, however, was a separate construct specifically for the charitable purpose and I hope to see more game companies do this on occasion.

simsalabim77

Say what you will, but Blizzard is a class act among game developers.

Rictis

Good to hear. Hopefully some other companies can take note and do something similar.

Adjuvant1

Talonsin said:

At 7 million subscribers, they take in over 100 million a month

Not to venture far off topic, but I do not believe this to be the truth. I understand a significant portion of ( x ) million to be "package deals" in cyber cafes outside the western hemisphere. (i.e. "Customer" who maintains x hundred or even x thousand cafe accounts offers WoW in cafe promotion, and is charged cut rate per account, perhaps as little as a third or quarter total). This is "how", while NA servers account for 50-60% of total playerbase, asiatic income accounts for a far less significant figure in net profit.

WoW sub income is not 100 million a month, else there would be little room in total WoW income statements for "new customers", expacs and cash shop. It's not 7m x 15usd/month + ( everything else ). Those numbers do not add up in recent statements.

Zen00

Talonsin said:

On the one hand, I really appreciate when companies do things to help the rest of the world and not just line their own pockets. Hats off to Blizzard and CCP and the others who try and make the world a better place.

On the other hand, I am disappointed that Blizzard decided to only donate the money that players gave. At 7 million subscribers, they take in over 100 million a month just from subs then figure in the cash shop and merchandise and the total is way beyond that. They could not even donate some of their own money?

(Note: my understanding is that Blizzard sold an item in the cash shop and used the money from those sales to donate, they did not match it or anything like that. If they did, I will edit my post.)

Absolutely agree, it's disgusting that they put this all on the community base without even the hint that they would match or better what the community raised. It's not like they don't have the resources to do so. Just smacks of PR and laziness and apathy on the companys part.

At least the people who donated got something I guess.

simsalabim77

Zen00 said:

Talonsin said:

On the one hand, I really appreciate when companies do things to help the rest of the world and not just line their own pockets. Hats off to Blizzard and CCP and the others who try and make the world a better place.

On the other hand, I am disappointed that Blizzard decided to only donate the money that players gave. At 7 million subscribers, they take in over 100 million a month just from subs then figure in the cash shop and merchandise and the total is way beyond that. They could not even donate some of their own money?

(Note: my understanding is that Blizzard sold an item in the cash shop and used the money from those sales to donate, they did not match it or anything like that. If they did, I will edit my post.)

Absolutely agree, it's disgusting that they put this all on the community base without even the hint that they would match or better what the community raised. It's not like they don't have the resources to do so. Just smacks of PR and laziness and apathy on the companys part.

At least the people who donated got something I guess.

How can a person possibly be so negative? It's a win/win. A charity who could use the money gets money. The players get to feel good about donating, and get a cutsey little in-game pet or whatever. Only the most cynical people could find fault in it. 

TheRabidsmurf

They have someone make a cash shop item specifically for charity drives. It is at least something but also nets them a tax break..maybe...and free advertisement. Meh, 1% of sub money. They should do more community drives instead of lazy"buy this" ones. McMMO better hope legion is good or good pr will not save them.

Sanisar

While I do appreciate when organizations help raise money for charity I feel like Blizzard can afford to add their own money at least since they are insanely profitable.  Add to that the fact that companies know very well that players who spend money in a games cash shop (even to help charity) are much more likely to spend in that cash shop again, and I feel the whole thing is diminished some.

Hopefully Blizzard is doing this for all the right reasons, but regardless I still give them credit for doing something even if it's their customer's money and not their own.

Ikonis

You have to be a special type of human trash to spin this into a negative. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Sovrath

Talonsin said:

On the one hand, I really appreciate when companies do things to help the rest of the world and not just line their own pockets. Hats off to Blizzard and CCP and the others who try and make the world a better place.



On the other hand, I am disappointed that Blizzard decided to only donate the money that players gave. At 7 million subscribers, they take in over 100 million a month just from subs then figure in the cash shop and merchandise and the total is way beyond that. They could not even donate some of their own money?

It's possible they don't/can't because they are a publicly traded company. In essence, do they really have "their own" money?

Granted, I'm no expert on public companies AND I know full well that there are publicly traded companies that give to charities.

Perhaps their board thought there was a better use of their money. Or maybe they do give to charities with their own money but don't want it announced except to shareholders?

Additionally, there are people who truly believe that a company's resources should only be used to drive higher profits.

Some CEO's have their salary based off the stock price so not using all the company's resources to better the company and drive the stock higher means that they get paid less.

Still, some could argue that a company giving to charity means that they will be thought of as being "a good company" especially giving to a community and that perhaps the stock prices might reflect that. Then again, if a company isn't making higher profits their stock will not look good regardless of what public opinion is.

Forgrimm

Ikonis said:

You have to be a special type of human trash to spin this into a negative. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Seriously. They raise 1.7 million dollars for charity and people still find a way to trash talk it. Ridiculous.

laserit

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

simsalabim77

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Horusra

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

what impresses me is people that give the least typically whine about the giving of others.

Xiaoki

Ikonis said:

You have to be a special type of human trash to spin this into a negative. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Its only a negative when its done by Blizzard.

If this had been some other developer like ArenaNet these same people would be hailing them as saints.

Its very sad that their hatred of WoW goes this far.

laserit

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the ones where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

simsalabim77

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the one where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

I just don't see the point in differentiating. Donation comes from a good place. It shouldn't matter if some great sacrifice was made. Why nitpick? Why not just be happy that there's people out there willing to help. 

Brenics

Great to see Blizzard doing great things with money we made them.

As far as Turner goes, he should of given it to where it could do good. UN is shit, they do nothing good for anyone but them self. They should kick UN out of USA. IMHO! 

laserit

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the one where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

I just don't see the point in differentiating. Donation comes from a good place. It shouldn't matter if some great sacrifice was made. Why nitpick? Why not just be happy that there's people out there willing to help. 

Who's nitpicking? I don't recall putting anyone or anything down. I gave an example of a donation that I thought was very impressive.

simsalabim77

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the one where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

I just don't see the point in differentiating. Donation comes from a good place. It shouldn't matter if some great sacrifice was made. Why nitpick? Why not just be happy that there's people out there willing to help. 

Who's to nitpicking? I don't recall putting anyone or anything down. I gave an example of a donation that I thought was very impressive.

You didn't. I just think it's kind of weird that you come into a thread to post about a donation that you think is actually impressive. Is it not equally impressive that Blizzard and their community raised a ton of money for charity? I mean, Ted Turner still had $2.2 billion dollars left in the bank after his donation. Some great sacrifice...

Zen00

I don't hate WoW, I've never played it nor have plans too, don't like the graphics really.

I just think that Blizzard as a company could have done much much much more for charity with this event than they did, and I feel that the whole event was set up by them as a publicity rather than for the actual reason of charity. My evidence for this is that they did not put up some matching number, or even give away free in-game items to promote the event, or one of the many other things a major publishing company with millions of dollars in profit quarterly could do.

laserit

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the one where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

I just don't see the point in differentiating. Donation comes from a good place. It shouldn't matter if some great sacrifice was made. Why nitpick? Why not just be happy that there's people out there willing to help. 

Who's to nitpicking? I don't recall putting anyone or anything down. I gave an example of a donation that I thought was very impressive.

You didn't. I just think it's kind of weird that you come into a thread to post about a donation that you think is actually impressive. Is it not equally impressive that Blizzard and their community raised a ton of money for charity? I mean, Ted Turner still had $2.2 billion dollars left in the bank after his donation. Some great sacrifice...

Ah... nitpicking.

simsalabim77

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

simsalabim77 said:

laserit said:

This is the kind of donation that impresses me.

 "Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Foundation

Turner's choice of the UN for his donation

Ted Turner, who in 1996 was worth $3.2 billion due to his Time Warner enterprise, decided to make a $1 billion contribution to the UN because he had previously donated to similar causes, and felt strongly about the issues the UN were participating in. Before donating to the UN, Turner was a proponent for the protection of the environment, especially in combating global warming. Turner believed that his $100 million per year donation over the course of 10 years would make a difference in the direction of the United Nations, and that he could use this donation to encourage other wealthy members of society to make financial contributions to the work of the UN.[7] By Giving away nearly 1/3 of his wealth while still living, Ted Turner was a major influence in the Giving Pledge movement.

If you've ever been in a position where you need a donation to have food and water for your family or some similarly awful situation, you would realize that any donation is impressive and humbles you in a way nothing else can. Pretty sappy, but also pretty true. The amount of cynicism and negativity on this website sometimes bothers me. 

Many of us donate every single day of our working lives.

The donations that impress me are the one where a real sacrifice is made. Giving away 1/3 of your net worth is a huge sacrifice, whether its one hundred dollars or one billion dollars makes no difference to me.  

I just don't see the point in differentiating. Donation comes from a good place. It shouldn't matter if some great sacrifice was made. Why nitpick? Why not just be happy that there's people out there willing to help. 

Who's to nitpicking? I don't recall putting anyone or anything down. I gave an example of a donation that I thought was very impressive.

You didn't. I just think it's kind of weird that you come into a thread to post about a donation that you think is actually impressive. Is it not equally impressive that Blizzard and their community raised a ton of money for charity? I mean, Ted Turner still had $2.2 billion dollars left in the bank after his donation. Some great sacrifice...

Ah... nitpicking.

No, I just don't think one donation is "better" than another, and I'm trying to understand why anyone would. It's okay, I've learned to accept that I will never understand some people. 

Forgrimm

Zen00 said:

I don't hate WoW, I've never played it nor have plans too, don't like the graphics really.

I just think that Blizzard as a company could have done much much much more for charity with this event than they did, and I feel that the whole event was set up by them as a publicity rather than for the actual reason of charity. My evidence for this is that they did not put up some matching number, or even give away free in-game items to promote the event, or one of the many other things a major publishing company with millions of dollars in profit quarterly could do.

They've done several of these charity events before, and every time they've donated 100% of the proceeds, which is more than can be said for many so-called "charities". Stop trying to find fault where this none.