Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Hurricane Sandy was a hurricane that devastated Northeastern United States during late October 2012. At least 253 people were killed along the path of the storm in seven countries. The severe and widespread damage the storm caused in the United States, as well as its unusual merge with a frontal system, led the media and several government agencies to nickname the hurricane Superstorm Sandy. And CBS reporter: “New estimates from forecasting firm Eqecat put the damage from superstorm Sandy at as much as $50 billion, making it the second most expensive storm in U.S. history after Hurricane Katrina.” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57543923/damage-from-sandy-could-cost-as-much-as-$50b-says-forecasting-firm/

Many charities came to the rescue to do what they could to help the affected. And of them video game developer Activision Blizzard, the creator of the video game World of Warcraft, and sub company of the video game publisher, Activision. They way they did this was the interesting part. At the beginning of December 2012, Blizzard released a new pet, called The Cinder Kitten for their role-playing game World of Warcraft. The pet cost $10 USD, and 100% of the sales would go to the Red Cross and disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. This is how they advertised the pet: “This fiery little feline is warm, adorable and will light the steps of any adventurer kind enough to adopt it. The Cinder Kitten has Rare-quality stats and is a part of the Elemental family. It also uses many Beast abilities in addition to Dragonkin and Elemental, and can also Prowl, Leap, and Rend its way to a 3-hit combo against its foes.” http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/12/04/buy-wow-pet-cinder-kitten-help-hurricane-sandy-victims#.UQCo9Uqjcj0

Then on January 11^th, Blizzard announced, through their blog, that the managed to raise $2.3 million for the American Red Cross’s ongoing Superstorm Sandy relief efforts in the month of December. They managed to raise all that money in the course of a month. “the pet sale was a smashing success for Blizzard, the WoW community - and most important of all - ongoing relief efforts being carried out by the American Red Cross where Sandy hit the hardest.” http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/01/11/world-warcraft-pet-sale-raises-23-million-hurricane-sandy-victims-december#.UQCop0qjcj0