SI and Sega pledge extensive support to War Child

British developer Sports Interactive and its publishing partner Sega Europe have announced that they will be donating a percentage of all revenues from their titles to international children's charity War Child.

The unique pledge means that not only will a portion of revenues from every copy of the hugely successful Football Manager 2005 go to the charity, but also from all other games created under Sports Interactive's long-term deal with Sega Europe.

As well as a direct financial donation, the firms hope to work together to create a number of other initiatives which will help to raise funds for, and awareness of, the charity and its work - starting with the release of a number of "football chant" audio add-ons for FM2005, which will be available from War Child's music download website.

War Child is dedicated providing prevention, protection, emergency relief and livelihood support to children affected by war. The charity is active in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is this year launching a new campaign titled "Your War Is Not With Me" - with the Sega and Sports Interactive partnership being the "starting pistol" for the campaign.

"When Sports Interactive and SEGA Europe agreed that a percentage of the revenues raised from our games would go to an agreed charity, the only question was which charity we would work with," according to Sports Interactive managing director Miles Jacobson.

"We considered a number of options, but as soon as we made contact with War Child it was clear that we had found our partner. War Child does a difficult job and does it well - we hope that we can help the team to achieve their goals through financial backing and by helping to spread the word through our active and enthusiastic fan base."

More information about the War Child charity can be found at warchild.org.uk.