Game designers raise funds for Palestinians via Play for Peace Bundle

As Israel continues to intensify its assault across the Gaza strip during a famine orchestrated by the country’s illegal blockade, game designers have decided to pool their resources to raise funds — and awareness — towards Palestinian aid. Nearly 250 creators have donated their games to the Play for Peace itch.io bundle, with proceeds from the sale of the bundle going to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) USA. 

Play for Peace isn’t the first bundle put together in support of Palestinians; there was an Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid in 2021 and the Palestinian Relief Bundle in 2024. Nonetheless, Jun Shen Chia, the organizer behind this bundle, told Rascal via email that he was moved by how the Southeast Asian and global gaming communities have rallied together in support of Palestine. “I was deeply inspired to harness our collective compassion and creative expressions for good,” he said. “Our charity bundle is not the first of its kind — shoutout to other gaming bundles for Palestine that inspired me [...] I learned a lot from their efforts, and even spoke with Alanna L., the organizer of the 2021 bundle, in making this one.”

This is also the first of more initiatives by SEA Games for Good, a platform Chia has founded for Southeast Asian and global gaming communities — one he said is made up of developers, players and industry folks — to “come together in support of important causes.” He shared that the logistics of putting together the initiative involved reaching out to organizations, individuals, and “hundreds of developers”, alongside coordinating with volunteers and ensuring that as many people as possible knew about the bundle when it went live.

For some game designers, these bundles are a small way to use their games and art to support Palestinians going through the genocide. “For a lot of us, this isn't our full-time job, and having something that is either a hobby or part-time job actually do good in the world is really important,” said Brandon Eby, a tabletop RPG writer, who contributed Duellists, and art card parks for Dieselpunk 1921 to the bundle. “I firmly believe that everyone should be doing everything in their power to do what we can to end the genocide in Palestine. While I know that submitting a game to a bundle isn't the biggest thing, and it's by no means the only thing I do, it is something.”

“[Bundles like these] seem to have become more and more common in the video game space, with publishers and developers bundling their games together on Steam under a similar theme. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, since each developer now has access to the audience of the other developer's games in the bundle. It would be interesting to see similarly targeted bundles in the tabletop RPG space,” added games studio Għar Gremxul, which donated Rewwixta.

Others appreciate the grassroots nature of such initiatives, with organizers and contributors putting these bundles together themselves. “I think these charity bundles are a huge part of the unique appeal of itch as a platform. While Humble Bundles do a lot of great work too, there's something about this ground-up community initiative and how scrappy it can still be (hacking around itch's systems, emailing everyone to remember to approve the bundle, etc.) that make it feel more real, and inspires something a bit more than just raising money together,” said game designer Aaron Lim. He has donated his games An Altogether Different River, Branching Streams, and Far From Home.

The Play for Peace bundle has raised $78,916 at time of writing, and Chia hopes that it can continue to meet its target of $200,000 by 23 September. “Everyday, the testimonies of the Palestinian people are shared on social media, in books, and other avenues, all as a means to ensure their voices, memories, and history persist even as they are being killed, hurt, and have their livelihoods taken away from them,” he said. “And so, too, should we persist in helping [them] reach the only conclusion that matters — freedom for Palestine.”