Blizzard Entertainment opened up their mighty coffers this month and made a spectacular 1.1 million dollar donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity that gives children with life-threatening problems "impactful" experiences. The developer also opened up its studio to 15 of the foundation's children, giving them a special sneak peek at how MMO World of Warcraft is made.
While we'd love to make this story all about the great work Make-A-Wish does, there's something to be said of where the Blizzard's donation came from: 50 percent of November and December's sales of the Pandaren Monk World of Warcraft pet. Think about that. Over a two-month period, a lone digital pet netted Blizzard 2.2 million dollars.
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
35 comments | showing # 1 to 35
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
9:00 PM on 02.17.2010
| 
I will now promptly smash my head into my desk.
The kids who came in were probably WoW fanboys. To a little kid who's obsessed with the game that's probably a big deal.
Then again I'm just assuming this.
That's Steam Holiday Sale stupid!
Are you really knocking a 1.1 million dollar donation? They could have just as easily not given any, and have it function like their Lich pet. I think it's an admirable gesture to donate at all, especially such a large amount.
Even then, that's still a crap-ton of sales.
Well it looks like there's only two in the Blizzard store, and the other one isn't labeled with an organization. But I don't play WoW, I'm not familiar with all the pets. Are there any other methods of getting pets?
The game is filled with various vanity pets, some gained from vendors using in game currency, others from achievements or by raising your reputation with certain factions. The pet store is a new addition, starting with the lich and panda pets, and now they're adding the griffin and windrider.
tons. theres an ingame achievement for getting over 75 I believe (you dont need to buy any to get this).
http://warcraftpets.com/wow.pets/index.asp
Except, you know, its called Make a Wish foundation. And, you know, this may just be hearsay, but the child actually MAKES A WISH OF THEIR OWN, and the foundation helps make it happen.
Jesus. I don't know why you even try sometimes.
You arent getting the point. its nice that they've done something charitable, but its marred by the fact that they have earned $1.1 mil over it, rather than giving it all to charity.
A significant amount of the sales would have been made just to make that charitable donation, as a statement by the consumer to say, do more things for charity, and we'll support you, and blizzard are pocketing it.
no-one is saying that the charity isnt accepted, and im sure that many people will benefit. It's all a bit underhand thats all
How is it even slightly underhanded? It's a corporation, they are in the business of making money, that is what they DO, that is what whoever you work for does, (assuming you work). Following your "logic" if a company donates ANYTHING at all to charity and it doesn't total the amount that earned at the time of their donation then it is under-handed.... Take a look at 90% of charities, MOST only actually use 25-50% of the donations they actually receive the rest goes to covering the costs of operating. STFU
You missed the social implicarions. i dont care about the money. at all. they can carry on raking in the cash which is what they do best, im not a hater. Infact them doing this was a really nice thing to do.
charity doesnt come cheap. if we as consumers dont keep marks on corporations like actiblizz then what is there. how is us ignoring the fact that they didnt really do this for charity but as an afterthought, which is a lovely gesture and i support them for it, going to help anyone.
If you dont like me using the word underhand, then fine. but it's immoral to me not to raise the point that the way of charity completely undermines the act.
before you retort, you're offering a completely different perspective than what im arguing against. donating to charity and keeping a lot of profit = lush.
Selling a product based on its charity value and then making more money than you give to charity= morally wrong
And how did they make more money off that vanity pet then they donated?
They made 2.2 million, donated 1.1 million. That's 50%.
People will buy the object past the charity window because they have been alerted to it by the charity scheme. its still on sale.