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Twitch donates $1m to charity AbleGamers

Twitch donates $1m to charity AbleGamers

Streaming platform Twitch is donating $1m to charity AbleGamers.

The news was revealed by streamer DrLupo, who told the organisation's COO Steven "Spawn" Spohn (pictured) that the Amazon-owned giant would be giving AbleGamers $1m directly.

"I am so shook," Spohn wrote on Twitter.

"Twitch donating $1,000,000 to AbleGamers is going to *literally* change the lives of thousands of people with disabilities.

"To you who supported me, my work, AbleGamers, and our lofty dream of enabling everyone to play: Thank you

"They did this because of you."

Founded back in 2004, AbleGamers is a charity dedicated to making video games a more accessible medium. In 2019, the organisation said it was embedding reps in triple-A studios to help them bake accessibility into their games.

Accessibility has become a hot topic of conversation in the industry in recent years. In 2018, Microsoft revealed its Adaptive Controller, which was designed to be customisable to the needs of differently-abled players.

Speaking to PCGamesInsider.biz at Develop:Brighton 2018, Mixer program manager, and gaming and disability community lead at the Big M Tara Voekler said that making games more accessibile is not only the right thing to do; it's also good for business. You can read our full interview with Voekler right here.

Her remarks were echoed at the same event the following year by Nopia's Felicia Prehn, who said that catering for disabled people is a good business move.

Facebook's Oculus VR division introduced new checks to make virtual reality games more accessible earlier this month, too.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.