Itch's Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid, a huge charity collection of over a thousand games, tabletop RPGs, soundtracks and more, has raised over $500,000 for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's efforts in providing food and aid to people in Gaza.
Running throughout the week, the Palestine bundle follows in the footsteps of last year's Bundle for Racial Justice, which raised over $8.5 million for legal defence funds in the US. This year's charity run was organised by developer Alanna Linayre, and has once again managed to rope in a vast selection of well-known indies and amateur developers alike.
The centrepiece of the bundle is Palestinian developer Rasheed Abueideh's Liyla and the Shadows of War. But with a self-submission process, the collection also includes everything from Minit, VVVVVV, Nuclear Throne and Art Sqool to more esoteric games like This Discord Has Ghosts In It. Like last year, buying the bundle will also send you a link to a page full of downloads, rather than flooding your itch library with 1,019 games all at once.
"Indie games are unique in that they can tell stories not seen in AAA or other games. We pour our life experiences into our games and share a piece of ourselves with the world," Linayre writes. "Palestinian game developers are no different in this aspect, but have the added challenges of limited access to basic services, like clean water, electricity, medical care, and food security."
With three days still to go, here's hoping the bundle can cross the million mark before the end of the week. It's also welcoming to see that last year's bundle wasn't just a one-off. Itch might not have quite the reach of a Steam or Epic, but it's fast proving itself a powerful force for charity.
