WhileOri and the Will of the Wispswas published by Xbox Game Studios for Xbox and PC, it wasiam8bit that published the Switch versionof the title. Now iam8bit has announced on Twitter and YouTube that they will be partnering with the charity Rainforest Trust. For this week, 5% of the proceeds from sales of the Switch version ofOri and the Will of the Wispswill be donated to Rainforest Trust.
The partnership makes sense, becauseOri and the Will of the Wispsandit’s prequelOri and the Blind Forestrevolve around the titular protagonist, Ori, and her adventures to protect the forest she inhabits. The game falls into what has become known as the Metroidvania genre which means that as players gain more abilities, more areas of the world open up for exploration, thus allowing for further progress through the main plot thread.
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Rainforest Trust, on the other hand, is a charity devoted to, as the name would imply, the conservation and restoration of the world’s rainforests. Rainforest Trust’s website notes that it was founded in 1988 by just three conservationists. One of the primary ways that Rainforest Trust helps to save the rainforests is the purchasing of land. Land is purchased to turn into nature reserves, and the charity has already managed to secure 24 million acres. In the collaborative YouTube video between iam8bit and Rainforest Trust, they state that 31,000 square miles of rainforest is destroyed every year.
In that same video, iam8bit revealed more details about the collaboration. Jon Gibson, the co-founder of iam8bit, tells viewers that he and his team decided that the collaboration with Rainforest Trust was the way the team wanted to spend their marketing budget.
For this week, until the 13th, any copy purchased ofOri and the Will of the Wispswill count towards the funds that will be donated to Rainforest Trust. This includes a digital copy from the Nintendo eShop,a physical copy from a retail chain, and a collector’s edition from iam8bit’s own site. Regardless of how much money ends up being raised, iam8bit will at the very least donate $25,000.
As Gibson points out in the video, if any players were on the fence about purchasingOri and the Will of the Wisps, this week would make an excellent time to go ahead and do so. $25,000 is a significant amount for iam8bit to be donating regardless, but as Gibson points out, with the help of gamers, the number can quickly grow. Again though, it is important to keep in mind that this collaboration is only going on until the 13th and is only forSwitch copies ofOri and the Will of the Wisps.
Ori and the Will of the Wispsis available now for PC, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
