Over the past several years, indie developers have raised more than $1 million for Palestinian aid; in 2021, the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid raised nearly $900,000 for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and in 2024, the Palestinian Relief Bundle raised nearly $600,000 for Palestine Children's Relief Fund. More than a year has passed since Israel’s renewed assault on Palestinian people in which tens of thousands of people have been killed or injured—and game developers are urging the industry not to look away.
Experts with the International Association of Genocide Scholars recently declared in a report that Israel’s actions against Palestine constitute a genocide, according to the BBC, joining groups like Doctor’s Without Borders, Amnesty International and Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. Israel has disputed the accusation for years, calling its actions a justified response to an Oct. 7 attack in which militant group Hamas attacked and killed hundreds of civilians, some of which were attending a music festival, and injured thousands more. The current situation in Gaza is a continuation of an ongoing conflict in the region. In 2022, Human Rights Watch called Gaza an “open air prison.”
“It is imperative that everybody in the world does not look away from the ongoing genocide, destruction of livelihood, culture and humanity in Palestine,” organizer Jun Shen Chia told Aftermath. “The games industry is built on communities of compassionate developers, artists, creators, writers, players who want to make a difference—and so we have the power to bring together our "kampung" (Malay word for "village") and harness our collective spirit to contribute to the welfare and freedom of the people of Palestine.”
Chia and a group of volunteers organized the Play for Peace - Games for Palestine 2025 Charity Bundle to continue raising funds for Palestinian aid; the effort began around 10 months ago, Chia said, with outreach to different organizations, volunteers, Itch itself, and game developers. The group partnered with the UNRWA USA, who will accept the raised money and pass it along to the UNRWA, which funds the direct support of Palestinians. Chia said the group chose the UNRWA because the proceeds go directly to relief efforts in Palestine.
The UNRWA was founded in 1950, per its website, and has provided “assistance and protection to Palestine refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.” It also helps with emergency response and is almost entirely funded through fundraising via “voluntary contributions, and mostly from donor states.” It continued, via an FAQ page on its website: “UNRWA is asking all donors to find ways to comprehensively address the Agency’s recurring shortfalls to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of critical services until there is a just and durable solution to the plight of Palestine refugees. Maintaining smooth and predictable operations, including the provision of emergency assistance, is of the utmost importance for the well-being, protection and human development of Palestine refugees, as well as for the stability of the region at large.”
Since the Play for Peace bundle launched on Sept. 2, it’s raised more than $33,000 for the charity. It’ll stay open until Sept. 23, with the goal of raising at least $200,000. The price is set for just $8, but people are able to donate more if they choose.
The bundle has been curated with 382 games from 248 creators—everything from “cozy narrative sims, to meditative adventures, to action games, visual novel tools, experimental sims, an RPG about being a cow, to tabletop experiences about everything from the occult, to journaling of self-discovery.”
Chia said it was important to him that the games represented in the bundle included “as many developers and contributors from all over the world,” including south east Asia, where he is from. “I created SEA Games for Good—a community-powered platform from which we can do good together—and as a way to encourage more participation from devs everywhere,” Chia said.
The Bundle includes Toge Productions’ Coffee Talk, Soft Not Weak’s Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To, Heather Flowers’ Extreme Meatpunks Forever, Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV, Necrosoft Games’ Hyper Gunsport, and Kitfox Games’ Lucifer Within Us, among many, many more. “All of it represents the creative expression of artists and developers who want to help raise money through their art for one of the most important causes of our time—freedom and the ending of genocide in Palestine,” the group said on its Itch page.
