Indie publisher Wired Productions has announced a year-long campaign to help raise awareness to mental health issues. Wired will help fund charity organization TakeThis, Inc through sales of its game, The Town of Light.
“Although issues concerning mental health are beginning to be talked about more openly, the job of raising public awareness is far from complete,” said Leo Zullo, Managing Director, Wired Productions. “Our aim over the next year is to bring much needed funding to partners such as TakeThis, as well as other charities operating at local, national and international levels. The gaming community is such a caring collective, and we welcome its assistance in helping us bring these much needed support services to those that need it most.”
TakeThis was founded in 2013 by veteran gaming journalists Russ Pitts and Susan Arednt and psychologist Dr. Mark Kline after the suicide of a colleague. Its goal is to raise awareness of mental health issues by providing information on treatment options and where to find help. TakeThis gives frequent talks and panels at gaming trade shows, and always has a room set up at every PAX and E3 event.
“The stigma around discussing mental health exists. To see companies, like Wired Productions, in our gaming community take positive steps to ensure people know they are safe to discuss these topics, and that they should be discussing them, is a huge win,” added Shannon Gerritzen, Executive Director, TakeThis, Inc. “We are honored to be partnering with Wired on this initiative. We tell people all the time that it is okay to say, ‘Today I am not OK.’ This effort helps us amplify that message and we are grateful for the platform.”
The Town of Light launched on PC last year, and last month on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’s a psychological adventure that’s more realistic than the usual supernatural horror that comes with setting a game in an asylum. It stars a young woman suffering from mental illness in the early 20th century and is based on a real location and events.
Note that The Town of Light has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB for Blood, Violence, Language, Nudity, and Strong Sexual Content.
