Gaming is a lifeline: why the number one Make-A-Wish request type is video games

Make-A-Wish sorts every wish into four kinds: to go, to meet, to be, or to have. Travel is still the biggest category overall, but when a child anywhere in the world asks to have something, the number one request is gaming.

April Stallings runs charitable gaming fundraising for Make-A-Wish International, the arm of the organization covering 43 countries with more than 650,000 wishes granted. She joins Greg and Lewis to explain why kids in treatment wish for games (her word is "lifeline"), what a gaming wish actually looks like, and why even Make-A-Wish hears no from game studios more than yes.

In this conversation:

Why gaming tops the "to have" category worldwide, and why the Nintendo Switch is the most-wished-for console

The wish stories: a day at Mojang's Stockholm HQ, a Brawl Stars wish built around vision loss, and Arrowhead's dev team spending a day with a Helldivers superfan

The research: measured wish outcomes in the high-90th percentile, now presented at pediatric oncology conferences

How studios of any size can help: the giving program starts at $5,000, and codes, studio days, dev time, and introductions count too

How New Blood Interactive became Make-A-Wish International's biggest gaming donor at $100,000

The John Cena playbook: what 650+ wishes of preparation looks like up close

Roll for Wishes, the TTRPG fundraising month running all of October

Learn more or start the conversation: https://worldwish.org (the wish impact research is under Our Impact)

Find April Stallings on LinkedIn.

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