Starting today Friday, October 6, some of the biggest names from the worldwide games industry, including the likes of Xbox, Supercell and EA, are uniting behind SpecialEffect (@SpecialEffect), the gamers’ charity, for their annual One Special Day flagship fundraising campaign.

At the heart of the campaign is the opportunity for gamers to raise money for the charity by purchasing and playing qualifying titles from the partner companies, who will donate some or all of the resulting revenue from the day.

A wide range of titles will be available through both the One Special Day Steam Promotion, running from 5-8 October, and the Mobile Promotion on One Special Day itself.

The support of over 90 partners – and their communities – will help the charity to reach the many thousands of disabled people every year that could potentially benefit from their work. SpecialEffect’s teams of therapists and technical specialists provide assessments and customized technology loans to help bring joy into the lives of people with disabilities. In turn, the charity pass on what they learn to help hardware and software developers make their products and games easier to use for as many people as possible all over the world.

Many of the partners are also enjoying a variety of fundraising initiatives and studio events in support of One Special Day. Staff at companies including Electronic Arts, Ripstone, The Yogscast, PlayStation London, Wushu Studios, nDreams, d3t, Third Kind Games, Sega Hardlight, Hypixel, Radical Forge, Sumo Group, and many more are taking part in pub quizzes, livestreams, game jams, abseils, trek challenges and more.

Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, acknowledged the generosity of the partners for this year’s event:

“Once again we’ve been overwhelmed by the level of support from the games industry for One Special Day. The backing we receive from the industry and their communities is phenomenal, and without it we simply couldn’t bring a better quality of life to so many people across the world.”

“As well as funding our one-to-one work with people with physical disabilities, it enables our research and partnership work with developers and manufacturers, ensuring we can continue our ever-increasing global impact on video games accessibility.”

One Special Day will be clearly visible across mobile apps, Steam, and social media, and companies participating will relay the One Special Day message to its players – ‘Buy, Play, Donate’.

The annual campaign has raised over $2M for the charity since its inception in 2016. Find out more about One Special Day at www.onespecialday.org.uk

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