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.
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.
Instead of sitting back and watching it burn, gaming communities from all across Australia have banded together to make a difference for everyone in the community. Multiple tournament organizers from the Australian fighting game community will be putting on a show this weekend with a bevy of tournaments everyone can participate in.
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”
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, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter V, and Tekken 7.
“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 relief organisation 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.”
Gamer Aid have also partnered with some of the biggest names in gaming, including Sennheiser Gaming, Logitech, The Misfits, Astro Gaming, AK Racing, Blue Microphone, Legion Energy, Spawn Point Bar, and more to further the appeal.
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 tournament on the Challonge page, with more information available on the OzHadou site.
Disclaimer: Joshua Swift, one of Gamer Aid Australia’s co-founders, is a stakeholder in Go Next Media, the owners of Snowball Esports.
