Gears of War Pledges 1% of All Future Revenue to Suicide Prevention Charities
The Coalition has pledged 1% of all future net revenue from Gears of War games and merchandise to suicide prevention charities, with Crisis Text Line announced as its first partner.
Studio head Mike Crump revealed the commitment on Xbox Wire, saying that Gears of War has always stood for belonging and The Coalition’s message amid soaring suicide rates in the United States is to ‘Never Fight Alone’.
“We are proud to announce that The Coalition will donate 1% of net revenue from all Gears of War games and merchandise to organizations working to prevent suicide and combat loneliness through mental health advocacy,” Crump said. “This is a multi-year commitment our studio is making to give back to our community and create real-world impact.”
Crisis Text Line, which The Coalition’s hopes will be the first of many partners, is a 24-hour, seven days a week high quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention service, available in the U.S. (in English and Spanish), the UK, Canada, and Ireland. The service is available by texting “PAUSE” to 741741 or on WhatsApp at (443)-SUPPORT.
“In 2021, we had 1.3 million conversations with texters who needed help with issues like anxiety, depression, and suicide,” said CEO of Crisis Text Line Dena Trujillo. “We’re honoured to partner with The Coalition and the Gears of War franchise to increase access to mental health support and suicide prevention services.
“Partnerships like this are so critical to addressing the mental health crisis in America and reaching our vision for an empathetic world where nobody feels alone.”
More than 700,000 people die by suicide each year according to the World Health Organisation, with many more attempts made. Suicide is also the fourth leading cause of death among 15 to 19 year olds.
The Coalition’s Never Fight Alone programme also encourages people to engage in positive mental health behaviour and support the pledge in a number of ways, firstly by checking in on friends and family through a text, DM, phone call or otherwise.
It also encourages people to save its support numbers (texting “PAUSE” to 741741 or on WhatsApp at (443)-SUPPORT).as contacts so they’re readily available if needed, by joining the conversation about suicide prevention on the @GearsofWar Twitter, and by purchasing the first Gears of War Never Fight Alone t-shirt from the Xbox Store (or Game Planet in Mexico).
If you are having suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in the U.S. is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255. A list of international suicide hotlines can be found here.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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