A new video game featuring a brave cat is popular among cat lovers. Some of them are using the game to raise money for real cats.
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 play “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 agencies copies of the game to give away.
Playing live for charity isn’t new. But the rapid popularity of “Stray” is somewhat unusual. It was the fourth most watched game on the day it was first shown on Twitch, the video game streaming site.
Viewers watch as players send the game’s cat around a city to solve problems and escape enemies. The cat in the game does all of this while doing normal cat activities like scratching, jumping, or hitting things on 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 help real displaced people in real life,” said Swann Martin-Raget. He is a game producer for Stray and works at BlueTwelve game studio in France.
This image provided by Annapurna Interactive shows artwork for 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 jumped at the chance, said marketing specialist Brendan Gepson.
“The whole game and the whole culture around the game, it’s about the love of cats,” Gepson said. “It was a great fit with the shelter and our mission.”
The shelter received four copies of the game to give away. People donated $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 Chief Marketing Officer of Annapurna Interactive. He said it made sense for the game’s launch to do something “shocking” or have a powerful influence. She added that she hopes the game will “bring more awareness to adoption and not buying a new pet.”
The game is available on PlayStation and the online gaming platform Steam. Steam monitor SteamDB said “Stray” has been the number one purchased game for 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 reporting by The Associated Press.
__________________________________________________________________________
Words in this story
fundraising — n. activity undertaken to raise money for a political party, charity, school, etc.
charity — n. the act of giving money, food or other types of help to poor, sick people, etc.
spectator — n. person who sees or looks at something
inspire — v. make you want to do something; to give an idea of what to do or create
mesh — v. fit or work together successfully
__________________________________________________________________________
We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here’s how it works:
- Write your comment in the box.
- Below the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google.
- Click on an image and a box will appear. Enter your social media account login. Or you can create one in the Disqus system. It’s a blue circle with a “D”. It’s free.
Each time you comment again on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and responses. Our feedback policy is here.