Bungie says fans have raised over $1m for earthquake relief, teases Destiny at E3

By Kris Wouk June 5, 2015

Destiny Nepal Aid shirt — Image used with permission by copyright holder

We reported in May that Destiny developer and Halo series creator Bungie Studios was selling shirts to raise money for the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25. At the time, the company had already raised over $400,000 for earthquake victims.

While that was a tidy sum in itself, quite a bit more has been raised since then. Thanks to a $50,000 contribution by publisher Activision and a whole lot of Destiny fans, the initiative has raised over $1 million, according to the latest Bungie Weekly Update. To be exact, the check presented to Direct Relief totaled $1,026,006.80.

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“This was an astounding act of generosity on the part of Bungie and the larger Bungie community, and we at Direct Relief are deeply grateful — beyond what can be expressed in words,” Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe. “Every penny will be spent to help strengthen essential health services that were needed before the earthquakes and much more so now.”

The shirts are shipping now on a first come, first served basis. Bungie adds that there were a lot of shirts ordered, “so here’s hoping that your patience is as strong as your heart.” The in-game shaders and emblems offered along with the shirts will arrive in the game sometime this summer.

This wasn’t the only thing mentioned in this week’s update. While the company doesn’t seem to have much to say about it yet, it seems that Bungie will have an announcement related to Destiny later this month.

“And we’ll see you at E3. That’s right,” the post reads. “You might have seen mention of Bungie this or Destiny that on E3 schedules. We’ll have some things to tease. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Whether this will relate to the DLC expected this summer or the expansion pack coming this fall remains to be seen, but with E3 kicking off in less than two weeks, we don’t have long to wait to find out.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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