10th annual Jingle Jam raises over $1m within first 24 hours

The annual charity streaming event Jingle Jam kicked off yesterday, with the Yogscast-backed streamathon looking to raise a record amount for charities across the UK and beyond. The event, now in its tenth year, has raised $20m to date. Correction: $21m.

Scheduled for 14 days and supporting 14 charities, including SpecialEffect, War Child and Cancer Research, the event is broadcast from the Yogscast Twitch channel and features the likes of Lewis and Simon, Sips, The Spiffing Brit and RTGame enjoying plenty of games and having lots of jolly festive japes. Those that donate a minimum of £35 ($47) will receive more than 50 games worth more than £650 – all for a raft of good causes, of course.

As well as the games, new to this year’s Jingle Jam is the fact that anyone can sign up to set up their own fundraising streams, with audiences able to claim the Jingle Jam Games Collection in return for their charitable donations.

“Developers and publishers have been incredibly generous this year – the value of the games collection is immense,” said Lewis Brindley, co-founder of The Yogscast. “Wildermyth and Just Die Already, two of my favourite games released this year, are worth it on their own but there’s another 54 great games. I’m delighted to have such a cool reward for those kind enough to donate to charity!”

“Jingle Jam really does show the games industry at its very best, and we’re once again thrilled to be a partner,” added Rich Keith, CEO of Fourth Floor. “It’s wonderful seeing so many content creators and companies come together for such fantastic causes, and we hope we’ll raise a record amount. Plus the streams are always tremendous fun – all of us here at Fourth Floor will be tuning in for the two weeks.”

“Our team at Chucklefish and the developers at Robotality are so pleased to be supporting this year’s Jingle Jam Games Collection with our title Pathway. These are 14 fantastic charity projects and we can’t wait to see how much is raised this year,” said Katy Ellis, Head of Marketing at Jingle Jam supporter Chucklefish.

“Every year, the Jingle Jam demonstrates how content creators and their communities can have a powerful impact on causes they’re passionate about,” said Michael Wasserman, CEO of Tiltify. “Once again, Tiltify is proud to be the fundraising platform for the event. None of this would be possible without the humbling generosity of the gaming industry, and the amazing job Yogscast has done to create a truly epic Jingle Jam games collection.”

“Each December The Jingle Jam unites the Twitch community around the gaming content they love most while providing an opportunity to give back – this year to an amazing 14 charities,” said Anthony Pakronsis, Director of Partnerships for Northern Europe at Twitch. “That is why we are delighted to support this event once again and we know 2021 will be the best year yet!”

“We’re delighted to be a partner of the Jingle Jam and work with its charities each year,” said Grahame Gallacher, Director at Jingle Jam partner Honest PR. “There’s such a wide range of charitable causes for people to support, from social justice issues to mental health and disability access. It blows me away the positive impact these charities have on so many lives.”

Jingle Jam 2021 is set to run until December 14th.