Overwatch 2 Once Again Raises Millions for Breast Cancer Research

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 5, 2024 14 Views 6 Min Read
Overwatch 2 Once Again Raises Millions for Breast Cancer Research



Key Takeaways

  • The 2024 Mercy for a Cause campaign in Overwatch 2 raised $12.3 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
  • The Overwatch games helped raise over $25 million for BCRF since 2018.
  • Blizzard and BCRF will reveal what research these newly raised funds will support in the coming months.



The 2024 Pink Mercy campaign in Overwatch 2 has raised $12.3 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This achievement brings the lifetime amount that the Overwatch games have raised for BCRF to over $25 million.

Back in May 2018, Overwatch launched a limited-time BCRF Charity Event that allowed players to purchase a $14.99 Pink Mercy skin, with all of the proceeds going to the New York-based nonprofit organization. More than six years later, the Pink Mercy cosmetic returned to Overwatch 2, having been offered between June 25 and July 8, 2024, as part of another BCRF fundraising initiative called Mercy for a Cause.

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The second iteration of the event was immensely successful, raising $12.3 million shortly after Overwatch 2 Season 11 kicked off. “This achievement is a testament to the incredible generosity of our Overwatch community,” Blizzard President Johanna Faries said in a prepared statement shared with Game Rant. The executive also thanked everyone who participated in Mercy for a Cause for helping make a difference in the ongoing fight against breast cancer. BCRF President and CEO Donna McKay said the nonprofit was “profoundly moved” by the success of the campaign, noting that the funds raised will help drive innovation necessary for ending breast cancer.



Overwatch Now Holds Two Breast Cancer Research Foundation Donation Records

Mercy for a Cause came close to matching the $12.7 million that the original BCRF Charity Event raised in 2018. Blizzard now consequently holds the records for both the largest and second-largest single corporate donations ever made to BCRF. In total, the company has donated more than $25 million to the breast-cancer-fighting nonprofit. Apart from the $15 Pink Mercy Skin, Overwatch 2 players were also able to purchase the Rose Gold Mercy Bundle for the duration of Mercy for a Cause. This $20 package included another Mercy skin, as well as new player icons, sprays, and name cards designed by Angela Ziegler and Dani Ellis. A Mercy Heroic Weapon Skin was also part of the bundle.


Blizzard’s BCRF Donation History

2018

$12.7 million

2024

$12.3 million

Total

$25 million

Some of the items from the 2018 BCRF Charity Event—including sprays and Twitch emotes—didn’t return as part of Mercy for a Cause. This would suggest that a number of Overwatch 2 cosmetics featured in the 2024 event were also one-time offerings.

Blizzard and BCRF have yet to specify the exact initiatives this latest donation will help fund, but have pledged to do so “in the months ahead,” which ostensibly means early 2025. The funds from the 2018 Overwatch campaign were partially used to support the development of AI technology for mammogram image analysis meant to provide more accurate breast cancer risk assessment relative to standard practices. They also helped fund the creation of predictive models for determining the likelihood of developing triple-negative breast cancer, the deadliest form of the disease, among several other solutions and efforts.


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