The Game On Cancer® community raises more than $70,000 for cancer research
In December 2021, the gaming community came together for the very first Holiday Spectacular and raised more than $46,000 for cancer research, which at the time was the most successful Game On Cancer® fundraising campaign to date. Well, it’s no surprise that the gaming community knows how to step up and smash records. This year, gamers across the country united and readily surpassed last year’s fundraising total like an old high score, raising more than $71,556 for vital cancer research. This makes Holiday Spectacular 2022 our most successful community fundraising campaign so far!
Of course, this would not have been possible without the incredible support and generosity of so many people, so here’s a look at all the amazing creators, communities and partners that made it all possible.
Holiday Spectacular 2022 kicked off on December 15th with a huge stream from Australia’s favourite gaming personality, Bajo. In less than three hours, Bajonians the world over showed up en masse to support the campaign fundraising a mind-boggling $14,062! This incredible level of generosity meant Bajo had to do more than 160 laps of his house. Legend has it he’s still doing them…
This holiday marked the first time Game On Cancer® partnered with the amazing goto.game team who formed their own awesome fundraising outfit and collectively raised more than $18,000. A special shoutout to Simo, ShivJam, JackHuddo and SarahJane who each fundraised more than $2,000 for cancer research. Each creator in the team also received their own 3D-printed Game On Cancer® signet to display proudly at home – how cool is that? Thanks to the entire goto.game team for their incredible support.
This year, Australia’s favourite esports organisation, The Chiefs, joined the festivities. The Brisbane-based team fundraised during their inaugural L’Oreal Men Expert League of Legends Scouting Grounds tournament from their amazing Chiefs Country Club. All of the talent put their bodies on the line with wax strips, badly done make-up, pies-to-the-face and embarrassing TikTok dances all making an appearance over the two days, resulting in $4,102 raised!
Down in Melbourne, the legends at REKTgn gathered some of the best Rainbow Six Siege pros from across APAC for the first ever ‘Clash of the Nations’ tournament. Teams representing Thailand, Korea, Singapore and Australia competed for national pride, while the commentators pushed through a bunch of fundraising milestones. Some of our favourites included Mandy and Devmarta being egged, Nikoh and Tilteq dressing very festive, Proto devouring 1L of milk in an instant and the worst arm wrestle match you’ve ever seen (no offense to Guzz and Devmarta).
In the end it was Team Thailand to take the crown, though everyone felt like a winner by the end of the broadcast with $5,500 being raised for cancer research. Thank you to Rob, Alicia, Alex and everyone at REKT for such an amazing event!
And to round out the year, GenerOZity held their inaugural ‘Emissaries of Excellence’ Sea of Thieves tournament. On December 30th, 24 pirates manned 6 galleons and were let loose to acquire 1 special chest. As the donations started rolling in, the chaos ensued, and over just a few hours, the GenerOZity community raised $4125, bringing Holiday Spectacular to a close. Thanks to Xbox ANZ, Rare and JUICD Energy for supporting the event with amazing prizes as well.
For this Holiday Spectacular we were fortunate enough to have the support of two major partners, RØDE and Kings of Neon™ who each provided some amazing incentives for streamers who reached different fundraising milestones. Congratulations to all the streamers who earned themselves a $300 gift card from Kings of Neon™ for their own custom neon light and a prize pack featuring brand new RØDE X microphones, headphones and boom arm.
Finally, the Holiday Spectacular wouldn’t be possible without the support of some very special people. We’d like to say a huge thank you to our amazing Game On Cancer® volunteers, Ashley, Shannon and Cameron, for their ongoing support. We’d also like to give a big shoutout to our friends at Rocket Comms for helping spread the word of Holiday Spectacular amongst ANZ gaming media, and M29 Creative for crafting our amazing brand imagery and assets – we love the new Kings of Neon-inspired look!
Thank you again to everyone involved and to helping us end 2022 on the highest high! We can’t wait to see what the Game On Cancer® community can achieve for cancer research in 2023.
