When Blizzard Entertainment's not counting its World of Warcraft money and making great turn-based strategy games, it's apparently feeling philanthropic.
Make-A-Wish has announced today that the House of Warcraft has donated $800,000 to the organization, which helps make dreams a reality for kids diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. Blizzard also celebrated World Wish Day, April 29, by letting two boys visit the Irvine, California studio to get a look at how its games are created. No word on whether they walked away with any "Titan" secrets.
Kudos to Blizzard. Being a console person I haven't really had many opportunities to support them, but stuff like this makes me want to. I bet those kids had a blast.
Blizzard is run independently from Activision, and pretty much does what they want. Activision merged with Blizzard's parent company Vivendi, but it was agreed that Blizzard would remain largely autonomous. In fact, didn't Blizzard tell Activision "no" about using Battlenet for Activision games?
You know, I would really like to give a shit about charities...but I'm pretty sure only like 10% of the money that is donated actually gets to "the cause" the rest goes to all the cock suckers that are trying to convince you to donate.
A lot of people use that as an excuse, when they could always give directly to the charity. The fact is, charitable organizations only hire promotion agencies because that's the only way they end up getting any donations, even though people always complain about it. People don't give unless they're asked to give.
As far as Blizzard goes, a lot of people with serious disorders and illnesses play their games. It's a way for them to have fun and play with friends, and even to feel productive. My best friend, who passed away two years ago after a lifetime battle with a genetic disease, played Warcraft games all the time, and was a valuable member of a high level raiding guild. Make A Wish came through for him with gaming computers twice, which made him very happy and impacted the quality of his life. If I had a lot of money, I know where I'd give some of it.
I also remember Blizzard granting the wish of a boy who wanted to have an NPC in the game named after him, with an related quest. He also did the voice. In all honesty, I had to fight tears each time I talked to that NPC.
@Syn
In this case, youre right!!
The illumanati own Activision, and by that, Blizzard. Also, they own the Make a Wish foundation. So the illumanati is using the two of then to move MONEY!! BECAUSE BOBBY KOTICK IS THEIR LEADER!! OH NOOOOOOOOES!!
More like some pennies. So Blizz, how many subscribers do you have? 13 million! And exactly how much do they pay a month? About 15 dollars! So how much do you get from them each month? 185 million dollars! So even if we take 100 million dollars off how much you earn for costs, how much are you giving to make a wish? 1% of our monthly income!
Does Lost Vikings count as a "turn-based strategy game" because you take "turns" controlling each Viking or something? Because the Warcraft and Starcraft series were both "real-time" strategy games...
Was also confused about "turn-based strategy game"... I think Mr. Chester is talking about Starcraft... UNLESS HE KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT BLIZZARDS SECRET PROJECT AND HE JUST SLIPPED AFKAGHFJKAFGJ.
Anyway, Blizzard has always been my favourite game making studio and I find this to be really cool.
Huh, that went a lot further than I expected. Never said anything about conspiracies, just that there are plenty of pockets that get filled on the way to the near-dead child at the end of the line.
Its nice Blizzard did this but I honestly think they could have spared more. I mean they probably make even more then this when they make one of their non-combat pets a "for charity" item.
I guess we'll see how much they make from selling some pets for Japan Relief to find out how much they may have low-balled Make A Wish.
There are several regulatory requirements for 501(3)(c) charities--which Make-A-Wish falls under--that dictate how much of each dollar they are allowed to spend on administrative costs. You can look those regs up on your own. As a previous volunteer for Make-A-Wish I can tell you that, nationally, about 90 cents of each dollar goes towards granting wishes for kids. Their regional offices are independently run and each office's ratio varies a bit.
It is important for any person to do his/her homework on an organization before donating to make sure that organization lives up to his/her expectations. However, declaring all charities to be corrupt because of some [blatantly false] bias you hold is beyond ignorant. If you can't afford to donate to charities, or just don't want to, that is certainly fine. But, if you're going to be a curmudgeon/troll, at least bother to do some research first.
**It looks like my info was slightly off. Nationally, about 75 cents of each dollar goes towards granting wishes according to their website. However, the regional chapter my town falls in is closer to that 90% mark.
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Contest:
5:20 PM on 05.05.2011 | 
Nevertheless, kudos to Blizzard, throwing dat WoWCraftII money fo da shawties.
(and they really should fulfill Andy's wish! LOL!)
Rabble rabble conspiracy rabble rabble.
A lot of people use that as an excuse, when they could always give directly to the charity. The fact is, charitable organizations only hire promotion agencies because that's the only way they end up getting any donations, even though people always complain about it. People don't give unless they're asked to give.
As far as Blizzard goes, a lot of people with serious disorders and illnesses play their games. It's a way for them to have fun and play with friends, and even to feel productive. My best friend, who passed away two years ago after a lifetime battle with a genetic disease, played Warcraft games all the time, and was a valuable member of a high level raiding guild. Make A Wish came through for him with gaming computers twice, which made him very happy and impacted the quality of his life. If I had a lot of money, I know where I'd give some of it.
I also remember Blizzard granting the wish of a boy who wanted to have an NPC in the game named after him, with an related quest. He also did the voice. In all honesty, I had to fight tears each time I talked to that NPC.
Be careful! There are MiBs and Knights Templars who might be reading this. I won't be suprised to hear you have "disappeared".
In this case, y
In this case, youre right!!
The illumanati own Activision, and by that, Blizzard. Also, they own the Make a Wish foundation. So the illumanati is using the two of then to move MONEY!! BECAUSE BOBBY KOTICK IS THEIR LEADER!! OH NOOOOOOOOES!!
/Sarcasm.
YES, THIS.
That's just creepy. I mean, seriously, two left hands?
Anyway, Blizzard has always been my favourite game making studio and I find this to be really cool.
I guess we'll see how much they make from selling some pets for Japan Relief to find out how much they may have low-balled Make A Wish.
There are several regulatory requirements for 501(3)(c) charities--which Make-A-Wish falls under--that dictate how much of each dollar they are allowed to spend on administrative costs. You can look those regs up on your own. As a previous volunteer for Make-A-Wish I can tell you that, nationally, about 90 cents of each dollar goes towards granting wishes for kids. Their regional offices are independently run and each office's ratio varies a bit.
It is important for any person to do his/her homework on an organization before donating to make sure that organization lives up to his/her expectations. However, declaring all charities to be corrupt because of some [blatantly false] bias you hold is beyond ignorant. If you can't afford to donate to charities, or just don't want to, that is certainly fine. But, if you're going to be a curmudgeon/troll, at least bother to do some research first.