Gamers' charity SpecialEffect are looking forward to welcoming hundreds of people from the gaming community and industry who are taking part in their annual GameBlast (@GameBlast) challenge this coming weekend, 25-27 February.

With face-to-face fundraising severely restricted over the last two years due to the pandemic, GameBlast is again taking on vital importance this year as a major source of funding for the charity’s work in helping people with physical disabilities to enjoy video games.

Heralded as ‘the best excuse to game ever,’ the GameBlast weekend will see hundreds of gamers take on sponsored fundraising gaming-themed challenges of their own design, including marathon livestreams, speed runs, pub quizzes and fitness challenges. The event has raised over £1m over the past seven years to help the charity create custom control setups for disabled gamers and collaborate with the gaming industry to make their games more accessible.

As well as the individual gamers and creators who’ll be gaming hard over the weekend, many names in the games industry will also supporting or taking part in the event, including SEGA, Corsair, Coatsink and many others.

The SEGA community have a team of over 60 streamers participating. Marta Camilo, Digital Design Manager at SEGA Europe from SEGA said “I love taking part in GameBlast as a streamer. It’s so thrilling, the energy is always positive and everyone, from viewers to streamers and industry, unite for a cause they care about.”SpecialEffect’s Tom Donegan commented: “GameBlast is so close to our hearts here at SpecialEffect because it’s all about gamers coming together to help their fellow gamers. The range of challenges streamers take up to support the charity is always such a joy to see and it’s a real feel-good weekend from start to finish! A huge thank you to everyone taking part and we hope they all have a fantastic time while raising vital funds.”

Check out the streams and fundraising events happening throughout the GameBlast weekend at https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast and get the latest Updates at https://twitter.com/GameBlast