WeSave! Charity Play nets huge sum of money for coronavirus relief

By Neslyn Apduhan

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Mar 30, 2020

Reading time: 1 min

WePlay! has gathered more than $188,000 from donations with its WeSave! Charity Play Dota 2 tournament.

The pandemic has put a pause on the esports calendar, sparking WePlay! to launch a charity tournament to help in the battle against COVID-19. WeSave! Charity Play featured 24 teams from six different regions. Fans saw their favorite teams participate in the event, including huge names such as OG, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, Vici Gaming, and TNC Predator.

“Our company is aiming to conduct a charitable event without keeping any possible revenues from sponsorship deals, partner programs, donations, and other sources,” WePlay! told fans in a blog post.

WePlay! chipped with an initial $120,000 prize pool spread evenly across each region. Its goal was to reach a $200,000 prize pool. The company added various stretch goals in order to encourage fans to donate. Rewards included various show matches and special attractions.

The organizer also appealed to betting sites to cancel bets on WeSave! Charity Play matches unless they donate the revenue to WePlay! Huge betting sites such as Rivalry and betsdota2 joined the cause and pledged to donate all their revenue from WeSave! matches.

WePlay! set donation stretch goals for its special events and ultimately hit four out of five goals. The $200,000 final stretch goal was not met. 

The highlight of the tournament was a best-of-five grand final series to determine the winner of the EU and CIS tournament. Team Nigma bested HellRaisers in a nail-biting 3-2 fashion. The full list of winners included the following teams:

  • EU and CIS: Team Nigma
  • North America: Evil Geniuses
  • South America: Thunder Predator
  • China: PSG.LGD
  • Southeast Asia: Team Adroit

All funds will be donated equally to CEPI and GlobalGiving. WePlay! guaranteed fans and donors that there will be transparency in the fund transfer process.

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