One of the most famous German charity events on Twitch is entering its seventh round: Friendly Fire. Streamers Gronkh, PietSmiet, and many others have been diligently collecting donations for a good cause for 7 years. MeinMMO reveals everything you need to know about the event.
This is what Friendly Fire has achieved so far:
- In the first Friendly Fire, in 2015, the group raised 125,000 euros. Over the years, the amount increased significantly and they were able to collect over 1.5 million euros in 2020.
- In 2020, not only donations skyrocketed, but also viewer numbers. The event, with about 125,000 viewers, was one of the 5 largest German streams on Twitch.
- Friendly Fire has received four awards so far. The latest was the German Developer Award, which was a special prize for social engagement.
Friendly Fire – 12 hours of action-packed entertainment
This is Friendly Fire: During the charity event, the main focus is of course on raising money for various charities. However, all participants and organizers pull out all the stops to entertain the viewers in the meantime.
Until 3 a.m., people are gaming, playing party games, and entertaining the viewers with fun activities.
Especially the challenges are always a highlight for all donors. When a certain amount is reached, a participant of the event has to complete a task. This is meant to motivate donors to work towards a specific amount.
Last year, Peter Smits’ “Concrete Curl” was undoubtedly the highlight: viewers donated as much as they could to give Peter a new hairstyle. You have to know: His hairstyle is his sanctuary, his pride and joy, which he styled the same way for years. Everyone wanted to see how he would look with a different hairstyle (via Twitter).
Sometimes participants also have to dress up and humorously take on roles:
Where is the event taking place? Friendly Fire will be broadcast live on this year’s Twitch channel of the streamer Gronkh (via Twitch).
When does the event start? Today, on December 4th at 2 p.m., the pre-show for Friendly Fire begins. The actual event will start at 3 p.m. and will end after about 12 hours of broadcasting.
These are the participants, sponsors, and recipients of donations
Who is participating? In addition to Gronkh as the livestream host, the following people are participating in Friendly Fire:
- Peter Smits (PietSmiet)
- Dennis Brammen (PietSmiet)
- Sebastian Lenßen (PietSmiet)
- Christian Stachelhaus (PietSmiet)
- Jonathan Apelt (PietSmiet)
- Artur Niemczuk (fisHC0p)
- Pascal Rothkegel (MrMoregame)
- Tatjana Werth (Pandorya)
- Max Ensikat (PhunkRoyal)
- Florian Heider (Der Heider)
Since the group has been dressing up in their trailers over the last few years to match the theme of the main sponsor’s game, they took inspiration from the main sponsor this time as well (via YouTube). A teaser for Friendly Fire 7 gives you a behind-the-scenes look:
Who are the sponsors? The main sponsor this year is Ubisoft with its game Far Cry 6. These sponsors also support Friendly Fire 7:
| – Yvolve (Merchandise) | – Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| – ELEX 2 | – NZXT |
| – AVM (Fritz!) | – Twitch |
| – Twitch | – ROB’s |
| – Esport Factory | – Xbox Game Pass |
| – Asus | – Bus Simulator 21 |
| – Intel | – Fritz-Cola |
Furthermore, Betterplace.org supports them with donation processing, ensuring that the money actually reaches the appropriate charities.
These are the recipients of donations:
- Helden e.V.
- Hanseatic Help e.V.
- Irrsinnig menschlich e.V.
- Förderverein für krebskranke Kinder e.V. Köln
- Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V.
- rubicon e.V.
- Tierschutz Lübeck und Umgebung e.V.
In addition, every 8th euro goes into the Friendly Fire emergency fund. The fund is meant to ensure that in case of emergencies during the year, donations can be made. Betterplace takes care of storing the collected amount, but the Friendly Fire team decides where the money will ultimately be donated if necessary.
We are curious to see how much money the team can raise this time for a good cause and whether they can exceed last year’s total.
What do you think about it? Will you follow Friendly Fire 7 or have you even donated there before? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
