Raiding tombs doesn’t have to always be about personal gain. Consider the following: what if Lara Croft donated all of the ancient relics she acquires on her treacherous journeys to charity? That’s a plot line we’ll likely never see in a Tomb Raider game, but it doesn’t mean that Square Enix can’t attempt to do something similar.
In celebration of Tomb Raider’s 20th anniversary, Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics, and GameChanger launched a charity drive in which donors who contributed at least $1 would receive PC digital copy of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. 96% of the funds would be given to GameChanger‘s charity, whose mission is to “[bring] happiness & gaming to children facing life-threatening illnesses in hospitals around the world” (specifically, this includes “financial aid for patients & families with cancer and college scholarships for survivors, in addition to the aforementioned games and gaming events).
Donation incentives included a chance at receiving some swag, as follows :
$20+ Donations – 2 chances to win prizes!
– Entered into drawing to win a Collector’s Edition of Rise of the Tomb Raider, a Crystal Dynamics swag bag & more awesome items related to the Lara Croft seres! (over $89.99 value – US donors only)
– Entered into drawing to win GameChanger’s Tomb Raider Grand Prize Giveaway – includes 1 XBOX One console, 5 XBOX One games, accessories, swag & more! (over $600 value – US donors only)
– Receive incentives offered at previous donation levels$50+ Donations
– First 25 to donate $50 receive a Tomb Raider poster! (US donors only)
– Receive a GameChanger Gratitude Package – personalized Thank You Letter, GameChanger swag & more! (US donors only)
– Receive incentives offered at previous donation levels (ie entered into $20 prize drawings)
So what’s with all of the past tense? According to the official GameChanger page, donations had exceeded their expectations at just 8:30 PM PST last night. At that point, they had run out of Tomb Raider codes to give away! $20 and $50 donations were still open to the public until 26.5 hours later. At 11:30 AM PST this morning, GameChanger had closed the donation drive, as they had run out of rewards.
Alas, the chance to get a cheap copy of Tomb Raider has passed. But you can at least learn more about GameChanger’s mission here, and still purchase the game on Steam for $20.00 here. And in any case, it’s heartwarming to see so many people rally around a good cause, and a highly acclaimed game to boot.