Yesterday, a group of game developers launched the Play for Peace – Games for Palestine 2025 Charity Bundle on Itch.io, aiming to raise $200,000 for Palestinian relief over the next 20 days. It has already raised over $32,000 and counting, with 2,866 contributors. The proceeds will go to the UN agency UNRWA, which will provide direct humanitarian aid in Palestine.
“The people of Palestine continue to be subjected to hostility, destruction of homes, critical infrastructure, and devastating loss of lives,” its description reads. “We, as a games community, will bring together our incredible games from across the world, for a charity bundle with proceeds that go directly to Palestine aid and relief.”
As for what’s included in the bundle, it features 382 games, with some highlights including Coffee Talk, VVVVVV, BOSSGAME: The Final Boss is My Heart, Extreme Meatpunks Forever, Bonfire Peaks, Atuel, and undoubtedly a bunch of cool titles we haven’t played yet.
“All of it represents the creative expression of artists and developers who want to help raise money through their art for one of the most important causes of our time – freedom and the ending of genocide in Palestine.”
The effort was organized by SE Asian Games for Good, which previously announced that they’d be putting together the Play for Peace initiative back in June.
Since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, it’s estimated that the Israeli military has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians. Additionally, Israel has been repeatedly accused of intentionally targeting humanitarian aid workers, and has killed over 450 since the start of the conflict, including nearly 360 UNRWA members. 2024 was the deadliest year for humanitarian aid workers on record, in large part due to the death count in Gaza.
Elsewhere in the video game industry, Microsoft has received scathing criticism, including from members of its game studios, for aiding the Israeli military in its surveillance of Palestinians via custom-built Azure cloud servers. This surveillance has led to blackmail and deadly air strikes. Microsoft’s complicity has caused organizations like the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to call for a boycott of Xbox products.
You can find the Play for Peace – Games for Palestine 2025 Charity Bundle here.
