Stray cat video game helps real cats

A new video game featuring a brave cat is popular among cat lovers. Some of them use the game to collect money for real cats.

The game was released last month. It’s called Stray. A stray animal is one without a home. Many stray cats and dogs live on city streets.

Thanks online fundraiser Services will play gamers “Stray” live to audiences to raise money for animal shelters and other feline-related organizations.

Annapurna Interactive, the game’s creator, popularized “Stray” by offering copies of the game for free to two cat rescue and adoption agencies.

Live streaming gameplay for charity is not new. But Stray’s rapid popularity is somewhat unusual. It was the fourth most viewed game on the day it was first shown on Twitch, the video game streaming site.

Viewers Watch as players send the game’s cat across a city to solve problems and escape from enemies. The in-game cat does all of this while performing common cat activities like scratching, jumping, or knocking things off tables.

About 80 percent of the game’s creative team are “cat owners and cat lovers,” the game’s producers said.

“I hope, of course, that maybe some people will be inspired helping real strays in real life,” said Swann Martin-Raget. He is a Stray games producer and works at the BlueTwelve gaming studio in France.

Annapurna Interactive contacted the Nebraska Humane Society to discuss a partnership ahead of the game’s July 19 launch. The Humane Society jumped at the chance, said marketer Brendan Gepson.

“The whole game and the whole culture around the game is all about the love for cats,” Gepson said. “It meshed really good with the shelter and our mission.”

The shelter received four copies of the game to give away. People donated $5 for a chance to win one of the games. In one week, the shelter raised $7,000, Gepson said.

Most of the 550 donors were new to the shelter, including people from Germany and Malta.

Jeff Legaspi is Director of Marketing for Annapurna Interactive. He said it makes sense to do something “impactful” or make a strong impact when the game launches. He added that he hopes the game will “create more awareness about adopting, not buying, a new pet.”

The game is available on PlayStation and the online gaming platform Steam. Steam monitor SteamDB said “Stray” was the best-selling game in the last two weeks.

Annapurna has not released any sales or download numbers for the game.

I’m Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press.

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words in this story

to collect donations – n. Activity to raise money for a political party, charity, school, etc.

charity – n. the act of giving money, food, or other types of help to people who are poor, sick, etc.

Viewers – n. a person who sees or looks at something

to inspire — V want to do something; to give an idea of ​​what to do or create

mesh fabric — V fit together or work together successfully

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