Today, on September 4, Belka Games studio launched a charity event in the Watchmaker game. All the money earned inside the event will be used to support programs United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). We talked to Yuri Krasilnikov, the company’s business development director, about the details of the event and why the company is taking part in it.
Alexander Semenov, Senior Editor App2Top.ru : Tell us about the event. What is it?
Yuri KrasilnikovYuri Krasilnikov, Business Development Director of Belka Games:
This is an in-game event dedicated to the World Charity Day. Behind the name of the event “Together we are stronger” lies a set of levels for our match-3. The levels are united by history and, of course, by a common thematic art.
As you know, in the main saga of The Watchmaker, the player disenchants buildings, bringing life back to them. As for the event under discussion, in it we dwell on the story of a particular resident of the city — young Charlie, whose family left home (because of the machinations of the Watchmaker), which then fell into disrepair.
It’s always bad when children grow up outside the family and outside the home. However, our story has a happy ending. Charlie is restoring the house, which is now filled with the laughter of his younger brothers and sisters again, and the dog has a new booth.
With this little story, we wanted to show that a happy childhood is very important, that some are deprived of it.
Since the event is charitable, all the funds collected inside the event with the help of a special IAP will be transferred to support UNICEF programs aimed at helping children who have been in difficult conditions since birth. Someone was abandoned by parents, someone is experiencing physical ailments. And we believe that thanks to UNICEF programs, they have a chance for a happy, full-fledged childhood and social adaptation.
And it was important to us that every player of the Watchmaker could, by playing his favorite game, make the lives of children in need a little better.
How is this implemented technically? Does UNICEF somehow control payments?
Krasilnikov: As I mentioned a little above, players who will enter the “Watchmaker” from September 4 to September 11 will be offered to purchase a special IAP.
The latter is appropriately designed and explains that by making a purchase, the player will support UNICEF programs.
By control. Everything is transparent here — the charity IAP has a unique ID that is tracked by each of the platforms. Information about the number of transactions and the total amount is displayed in the developer console. We share this information with UNICEF representatives and transfer the entire amount collected to charity.
Such initiatives are not very common. Who initiated it in your case?
Krasilnikov: In this case, the initiative came from us. In early May, this idea occurred to one of the co—founders of Belka Games, Dima Khusainov, who put this proposal up for discussion. All the tops, including Yura Mazanik (co-founder) and Sasha Bogdanov (CEO), supported her, but the most important thing is that the whole team took it extremely positively and did not give 100% for the event, but probably 200%.
After it became clear that we would be doing an in-game charity event, the task appeared to agree and discuss the details with the foundation, which would have full confidence that the money would go as intended. The choice fell on UNICEF. I am very grateful to his representatives in Belarus for being very open and, most importantly, delving into the details and essence.
We have gone through several stages of checks and approvals by UNICEF. We managed to coordinate everything and, most importantly, implement it in the build on time. We can say that this is a new experience for both us and UNICEF.
How do players usually react to an event? During the week of the event, the special IAP becomes the most popular?
Krasilnikov: Recently, we have been launching regular events in the “Watchmaker”. Each event brings with it a lot of high-quality visual content, new levels, all this is directly related to the in-game story, so our audience welcomes such updates very warmly.
According to special events, you are right, during their holding, special IAP is among the top most popular.
Will there be support from the platforms during the event?
Krasilnikov: The platforms reacted very warmly to our initiative, and we will find out whether there will be support or not on Thursday (September 6).
Are there any specific expectations for indicators?
Krasilnikov: I would not like to make premature promises here, there are internal expectations. I really want the expectation/reality picture to be in favor of the second one. For this reason, it would be better if you and I touch on this topic in the next conversation and I will try to share specific figures already.
What does participation in such an event bring from a business point of view?
Krasilnikov: Participation in such an event brings positive feedback within the team, unites it. This can be seen both by the comments in Slack, when employees write that they are “pleased to know what we are doing”, and by the way they approach the implementation and support of the event.
Plus, of course, it gives some points in karma, and also gives the realization that we are doing something kind and important. The latter also perfectly stimulates everyone to move to new heights.
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