Check out this row from May 2018. Blizzard released the Pink Mercy skin in Overwatch, a pink version of the hero Mercy, in a charity campaign for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). The campaign lasted two weeks, from May 8 to 21, and the promise was to donate to the foundation the money from sales of the skin and of an exclusive T-shirt.
Then came the controversy. User Nick Akerman pointed out on Twitter that Sony was supposedly “keeping 22% of every purchase” of the skin on PS4. The basis was the UK PlayStation Store description: the skin cost £12.99, but the text said £10.12 would go to Blizzard to donate to the BCRF. The difference, £2.87, made up the 22%. Meanwhile, the Xbox store said 100% of the amount went to the foundation.
A correction to what we published at the time is in order: the difference appeared only in the UK store. On the US PlayStation Store, the description also mentioned 100% of the price going to charity.
Sony responded quickly: “We are not profiting from the sales of the Overwatch Pink Mercy skin.” The company did not explain where the £2.87 went. Part of the press raised the hypothesis of taxes, since the UK charges 20% VAT on digital purchases, but the math does not exactly fit that percentage, and the doubt was left hanging.
What came next
The drama did not stop the crowd. When the campaign ended, Blizzard announced that the Pink Mercy skin and the shirt raised more than US$ 12.7 million for the BCRF, the largest single-year donation the foundation had ever received. It is the kind of skin that arrived with a bang and made a difference outside the game.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Nick Akerman (Twitter).
SavePoint Team
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