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Harmonix CEO, Hearts of Iron studio help AbleGamers raise $33k at PAX East

Alex Rigopulos and Paradox Interactive help charity that aims to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities through video games have a banner year.

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The AbleGamers Charity, a group that aims to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities through video games, raised $33,635.07 at PAX East this month, the group announced the news today.

It is the group's largest fundraising total to date and more than double the figure from last year. The funds will help AbleGamers keep its grant program and accessibility outreach initiatives "going strong," the charity said.

AbleGamers specifically called out partners like Paradox Interactive (Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings), as well as Rock Band developer Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos, who offered to match funds for the first $12,500. This contributed "greatly" to the final total, AbleGamers said.

Other corporate sponsors included companies like Electronic Arts (Battlefield, Mass Effect), Deep Silver (Dead Island, Saints Row), Uber Entertainment (Monday Night Combat, Planetary Annihilation), The Behemoth (Castle Crashers, Battleblock Theater), and over two dozen others. Together, they awarded prizes totaling $42,000, AbleGamers said.

"Every year we start out thinking there's no way we could top what we achieved the year before, and every year we do better than we could've imagined," AbleGamers founder and executive director Mark Barlet said in a statement. "We really owe such a debt of gratitude to our corporate sponsors for their life-changing donations, and even more so to the extremely giving crowd at PAX East. We're nothing without you."

You can learn more about AbleGamers and donate to the charity at the group's website.

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