Anita Sarkeesian is right back at it again, and where she pops up, expect money to be right around the corner. With that said, Sarkeesian is serving as the executive director of “Games and Online Harassment Hotline” with Christopher Vu Gandin Le standing as hotline director. Jae Lin will also serve as the hotline coordinator, where the service itself will launch on August 3rd, 2020.
Update: As a clarification, this service has been around for months, but the actual service with “real people” will go live on August 3rd, 2020. This means the automated text will be replaced/accompanied by the “new system” early next month:
It’s true! We’re opening up August 3, 2020 and our call center is ready to provide you with the support you need! 🤗🧡🎉 https://t.co/ElrqlyIBTx
— Games and Online Harassment Hotline (@GamesHotline) July 15, 2020
Original Story: If you don’t know, we reported on Feminist Frequency’s financials, which offered a peek into what was likely going on from 2016 to 2019.
Firstly, 2017 financials for Feminist Frequency had an opening balance of $343,721, carried over from 2016. They totaled $254,736 in revenue back in 2017 and had an operating expenditure of $438,192. Ending the year 2017, the company had a balance of $149,711.
Moreover, finances from 2017 that carried over into 2018 did not prove to be favorable for Feminist Frequency in that the company opened up 2018 with just $157,490. This means they were down $186,231 from what they opened with in 2017.
In 2018, Feminist Frequency’s total revenue intake sat around $354,525, but they had an expenditure in operating costs of $323,557, thus ending the year with just $30,967.
In turn, Sarkeesian laid off her staff and closed offices earlier in 2019 due to burning through finances like any other woke company.
With that said, gamesindustry.biz reports that Feminist Frequency is starting up a “text-based emotional support service” to help developers and players cope or overcome “abuse suffered through their participation in the industry.”
Furthermore, gameshotline.org notes that the “free text message emotional support service” will go live in August and will be staffed by “paid agents trained in crisis response.”
The hotline will also help with “loneliness, grief, harassment, crunch-related burnout, self-harm, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse.” Anyway, here’s the promotional video:
The official website also has a notice up saying “don’t forget to donate,” because if 2016-2019 holds any indication, this hotline won’t last long without shekel donation.
Lastly, in an attempt to prevent said hotline from going broke the month it launches, Landfall Games, Superhot, Inhuman Conditions, and Awesome Without Borders are the hotline’s current sponsors. Expect Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog to join in too.