Starting April 1st and running all the way through the end of May, Rockstar will donate five percent of their revenue from Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online to help aid in COVID-19 coronavirus relief efforts. The company has previously announced that despite the coronavirus outbreak and the shift to remote work, services in Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online would not be interrupted, allowing fans to enjoy their time in quarantine a little more.
It’s impossible yet to say what the full impact of the coronavirus outbreak will be on the video game industry, and on the world as a whole, but it’s nice that some companies are beginning to take it upon themselves to raise money to help aid medical professionals who are not only trying to save lives but are also putting themselves in danger in order to do so. Just recently, Humble Bundle announced a coronavirus relief sale which offers over $1000 worth of video games and ebooks for just $30, with all the money going to help those people responding to the virus. Now, it seems like Rockstar has a similar idea.
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The company announced these new future donations on Twitter earlier today. Despite rabid calls for more information about the development of Grand Theft Auto 6 from fans, it appears the employees at Rockstar have bigger things to worry about, and they spoke about how they have seen friends, players, and communities impacted by the spread of coronavirus. According to the company’s statement, the funds they raise in April and May will “will be used to help local communities and businesses struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, both directly and by supporting some of the amazing organizations who are on the ground helping those affected by this crisis.” Check out the two-part message in full below:
While five percent may seem like a small amount, it’s worth noting how incredibly profitable Grand Theft Auto Online is, and while Red Dead Online hasn’t yet received the boom of player engagement GTA Online did around this time in its development cycle six years ago, it still retains a healthy playerbase and has a popular and active community. Hopefully, those players are also in the mood to purchase in-game items, as now everything anyone buys in GTAO or RDO can be considered a small donation to coronavirus relief.
The world is still struggling to come to grips with just how impactful the coronavirus will eventually be, but the more companies who make gestures like this one there are, the easier the problem will be to deal with in the long run. While some may deride Rockstar for not offering more than five percent of their sales, the fact that they’re offering any at all is worth celebrating right now, and hopefully other companies will take this as a challenge and one-up them. It would be nice to see corporations fighting to see who could make the biggest donations for once, instead of them fighting to see who can take player money the quickest. Speaking of getting a player’s money taken, this seems like the best time to revisit the Diamond Casino and Resort in GTA Online.
Source: Rockstar Games/Twitter
