PRESS RELEASE
Gamer Aid Australia has partnered with six of Oceania’s biggest fighting game communities to put on a mega-event to help raise money for Australians doing it tough this bushfire season.
The OCE FGC Bushfire Relief Charity Event will run on January 18 and 19, involving communities like OzHadou, Couch Warriors, Australian Anime Fighting Gamers, Australian Dragon Ball Z, Skullgirls Oceanic, and Team WP.
While the communities often collaborate for major tournaments, this is the first time the Australian FGC has come out in force in support of charity.
“There are large scale tournaments that are run every year, but there haven’t been any collaborations of this scale to raise money for charity,” said Lachie Sedunary of Team WP.
The Street Fighter V tournament organizer has worked together with the FGC and Gamer Aid Australia to help make sure the event got off the ground.
Wenwen ‘aura’ Ye, the tournament organizer for Dragon Ball FighterZ and UNIST said that everyone in the community wanted to find a way to help out.
“Almost every TO of the involved games have helped out immensely,” she said. “There’s a ton of communities who chipped in to help.”
“The fighting game community in our region is one of the most passionate groups of esports and gaming people,” said Joshua Swift, co-founder of Gamer Aid Australia. “We were immediately on board with the event they proposed and can’t wait to help bring it to life.”
Over a dozen fighting games will be on display, with some of Australia’s best players registering across the genre’s most popular titles.
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Blazblue: Central Fiction
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Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle
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Dark Souls
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Dragon Ball FighterZ
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Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2
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Killer Instinct
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Mortal Kombat 11
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Samurai Shodown
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Skull Girls: 2nd Encore
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Soul Calibur 6
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Street Fighter 2
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Street Fighter: 3rd Strike
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Street Fighter V
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Tekken 7
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Touhou 12.3
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UNIST
“People will be able to watch high-level Australian tournaments of the most current fighting games as well as some legacy ones,” said Sedunary.
All money raised during the event, including tournament entry fees, will be split evenly between the NSW Rural Fire Service and wildlife charity WIRES.
“Proceeds from both the tournament entry and any donations on either stream during the event will be split between Gamer Aid’s RFS fund and our new wildlife relief campaign in partnership with WIRES,” said Swift.
“Since we started Gamer Aid, we’ve raised over $21,000 for the victims of these devastating fires and our fundraiser for Australia’s Rural Fire Services is currently at over $26,000.”
The tournaments will be broadcasted from a variety of different FGC channels, but you can follow along with the two main channels (Gamer Aid Australia and OzHadou) throughout the event.
Players can sign up for the tournaments on the Challonge page, with more information available on the OzHadou site.
About the Australia fires
Australia is currently being ravaged by the worst bushfire season to date, with 29 people killed, over 1,500 houses lost, and over 26 million acres of land burned. An estimated one billion animals have also been killed, with some endangered species being driven to extinction.
Over 200 fires are still burning across New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria, many of which are still uncontained and threatening lives and homes.
About Gamer Aid Australia
Online, we have many homes. Offline, we have just one.
Gamer Aid Australia was brought to life by co-founders Aiden Hiko and Joshua Swift, who were both looking to find ways to help out those affected by the bushfires across Australia.
Gamer Aid Australia has helped raise nearly $50,000 for various charities across the country, including the Salvation Army’s Disaster Relief Fund, the NSW Rural Fire Service and WIRES.
Gamer Aid have also partnered with some of the biggest names in gaming, including Sennheiser, Logitech, Astro Gaming, AK Racing, Blue Microphone, Legion Energy, Spawn Point Bar, and more to further the appeal.
If you would like to donate to Gamer Aid Australia’s fundraisers, you can do so via their website at gameraid.com.au.
