The game was released last month. It’s called “Stray.” A stray animal is one that has no home. Many stray cats and dogs live on the streets of the city. Thanks to online fundraising services, players perform “Stray” live for the public to raise money for animal shelters and other cat-related organizations. Annapurna Interactive, the game’s creator, publicized “Stray” by offering two cat rescue and adoption companies copies of the game. Live streaming a game for charity is nothing new. But the rapid popularity of “Stray” is a little unusual. It was the fourth most viewed game of the day it first aired on Twitch, the video game streaming site. Viewers watch as players send the game cat around a city to solve problems and escape enemies. The cat in the game does all this while doing normal cat activities such as scratching, jumping, or knocking off tables. About 80 percent of the game’s creative team are “cat owners and cat lovers,” the game’s producers said. “I definitely hope that maybe some people will be inspired to actually help strays in real life,” said Swann Martin-Raget. He is a game producer for Stray and works at BlueTwelve gaming studio in France. This image provided by Annapurna Interactive shows art from the video game “Stray,” developed by BlueTwelve Studio and released on July 19, 2022. (Annapurna Interactive via AP) Annapurna Interactive reached out to the Nebraska Humane Society to discuss a partnership ahead of the game’s July 19 release. The humane society seized the opportunity, said marketing expert Brendan Gepson. “The whole game, and the whole culture around the game, is about loving cats,” Gepson said. “It connected really well with the shelter and our mission.” The shelter received four copies of the game to give away. People bid $5 for a chance to win one of the games. In one week, the shelter raised $7,000, Gepson said. Most of the 550 donors were new to the shelter, including people from Germany and Malta. Jeff Legaspi is the Marketing Director of Annapurna Interactive. He said it made sense for the game’s release to do something “impactful” or have a strong influence. He added that he hopes the game will “bring more awareness to adoption rather than buying a new pet.” The game is available on PlayStation and online gaming platform Steam. Steam’s SteamDB monitor said “Stray” was the number one game purchased in the past two weeks. Annapurna did not release sales numbers or download numbers for the game. I’m Dan Novak. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on an Associated Press report.
Words in this story
fundraiser — n. an activity done to collect money for a political party, charity, school, etc. charity — n. the act of giving money, food, or other help to people who are poor, sick, etc. spectator — n. a person who sees or looks at something inspire — v. want to do something? to give an idea of what to do or create grid — v. to match or work together successfully
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