Welcome back to another roundup of the impact of COVID-19 on gaming.
A huge stack of game studios have chipped in to support Humble’s Conquer COVID-19 bundle. “This special one-week bundle features $1,071 worth of games and ebooks for just $30,” the organizers say. “100% of the proceeds from your bundle purchase go to support organizations responding to COVID-19. For example, delivering protective gear to safeguard healthcare workers and providing medical care to infected patients.” We don’t spy any true MMOs in there, but it’s a good cause and a ton of products for a relatively small chunk of change. As of last night, it had already raised over a million bucks.
Bethesda has outright canceled QuakeCon this year. It had been set for August, and though that’s still a long way off, the company says it won’t be able to fully prepare for it under the current situation.
An update on QuakeCon 2020: pic.twitter.com/1FYUauI7PY
— QuakeCon (@QuakeCon) March 31, 2020
Perhaps the worst bit for MMO players is that Bethsoft won’t be hosting its live or digital showcase that normally runs alongside E3.
Given the many challenges we're facing due to the pandemic, we will not host a digital Showcase in June. We have lots of exciting things to share about our games and look forward to telling you more in the coming months.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) April 1, 2020
Though EA had at one point said it was suspending live events for all its games, including Apex Legends’, it’s now clarified that the digital events will be worth everyone’s while, with a list of $100,000 tourneys meant to be part of EA’s “stay and play” initiative.
TERA’s western publisher, En Masse, is handing out two weeks of freebie elite status. All players must do is log in during the month of April. Existing subbers will pick up two free weeks as well.
Wild Terra 2 is also begging players to stay at home, wear masks if they can’t, and play games, and in fact it’s put up a “stay home” pack that includes access to the whole game while it’s in development plus a few other cutesy bits, like legendary toilet paper. “When used, people nearby will read a funny phrase.”
The final date of Neverwinter’s fast-track pack unwrapping is almost upon us: Today is your last full day to pick up the huge freebie bundie for PWE’s D&D MMO.
Finally, Funcom extended Conan Exiles’ XP boosting event just a bit longer.
We're extending the XP Boost event until April 6th so you can take full advantage of the event through the weekend! This includes official servers for PC, Xbox, and PS4. We also want to take the opportunity and ask: How are you doing, Exiles?
— CONAN EXILES (@ConanExiles) March 31, 2020
Please be safe out there, folks.
More on the impact of the virus on gaming:
MOP's been covering the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on online gaming since January 2020, and we're still going from behind our own quarantines, both to keep up with the news and be a source of entertainment and comfort too. Stay abreast of the big MMO impacts with us, but please be safe and care for your communities above all else.
