COVID-19 Relief: Fnatic, Loco announce #GamingForGood

MUMBAI: Fnatic presents #GamingForGood, a PUBG MOBILE charity tournament for and by the Indian gaming and esports community. 

This is an initiative to raise funds to help some of those affected due to the currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament is being organized by Fnatic with support from endemic and non-endemic partners.

These include OnePlus, Homegrown, AFK Gaming, Villager Esports and BookMyShow. The tournament will be broadcast live exclusively on Loco, Pocket Aces’ game streaming platform. 

The tournament is set to take place from 3rd to 5th April and will feature top teams from the South Asian PUBG MOBILE circuit who will compete in a charity tournament known as #GamingforGood. The top teams will compete for a total prize pool of Rs 200,000 which will be split among the top three positions along with an award for the ‘best fragger’ and the ‘best fan’.

The winning teams will donate their prize money to any one of two pre-decided non profits. These include Zomato Feeding India which is a fund to support families of the daily wage workers in India in the absence of employment opportunities, and 4DOG’SAKE India who is looking after stray dog welfare in the Delhi/NCR region during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

In addition to this, all community members and viewers tuning in to the livestream will be able to donate to the cause, with the goal of raising as much money as possible via gamers and esports fans directly. Contributions can be made in any amounts via Paytm donations to the official GamingForGood number +91 9326786524.

The event will be streamed live officially on Loco and a delayed stream will be made available on YouTube via partner and player channels. Matches will commence at 2:45 P.M. IST on each day. Daily coverage and highlights will be available on afkgaming.com.

Speaking about the initiative, Nimish Raut, Fnatic India lead, said: “Fnatic has always been a team that’s built by the fans. I believe that with the thousands of gamers across India coming together, we could truly showcase the power of the Indian esports community and contribute in a way that benefits the people who are most in need. #GamingforGood stands for every gamer and his or her orange and black heart.”

Speaking on the association, Anirudh Pandita, founder, Pocket Aces says: "We are at a strong inflection point in Indian gaming and we are pleased to launch game streaming on Loco with #GamingForGood. As the home of Indian gaming, Loco is proud to collaborate with India’s most popular esports teams for this tournament. Fnatic and Loco share a commitment to developing the esports ecosystem in India and we look forward to co-creating many more impactful initiatives in the future. Most importantly, with COVID-19 creating an adverse challenge for India, we are happy to combine forces with other players in the ecosystem, to make a humble contribution to the country from our side.”