How this video game marathon on Twitch became an unmissable charity event in just a few years

The event, which brings together French streamers to collect donations for associations, returns after a break in 2023. During its last two editions, more than 10 million euros were collected.

It’s back, two years later. The ZEvent, a charity video game marathon bringing together several dozen French streamers, will be back from Friday, September 6 to Sunday, September 8 in Montpellier and live on the Twitch platform. This time, donations will be shared between five associations: Secours populaire, Cop1-Solidarités étudiantes, Chapitre 2, les Bureaux du cœur and Solidarité paysans. Organized for the last time in 2022, it raised 10 million euros for environmental associations. Franceinfo recounts the eight years during which this major gathering has gone beyond the circle of fans to become a majorly successful event.

It all started in 2016, during the first edition of ZEvent, launched by Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary. Better known under the pseudonyms Zerator and Dach, they are among the main French figures on Twitch, where they broadcast their video game sessions online. Then called Projet Avenger, the event aims to raise funds for the NGO Save the Children, after a drought that led to major famines in Ethiopia. Only sixteen streamers are on the bill at the time, but more than 170,000 euros are raised in 34 hours of uninterrupted Twitch live, which attract up to 58,000 simultaneous viewers, according to Numerama.

The event was renamed ZEvent the following year, and brought together around thirty streamers who played continuously for 52 hours. This time, the goal was to collect donations for the Red Cross, in order to help the victims of Hurricane Irma, which wreaked havoc in the Antilles, particularly in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. The enthusiasm was even more impressive, and the amount of donations from spectators exploded, exceeding 450,000 euros. A performance greeted on Twitter by Emmanuel Macron, newly elected President of the Republic.

In 2018, ZEvent surpassed the symbolic mark of one million euros in donations, for the benefit of the NGO Doctors Without Borders, in order to rebuild a destroyed hospital in Yemen. After this new success, the streamers are overwhelmed by requests from NGOs and associations hoping to be the next beneficiaries. “This year we received nearly 400 emails”Zerator told France 3 Occitanie ahead of the 2019 edition, which was ultimately organized to benefit the Pasteur Institute. In total, more than 3.5 million euros were raised. However, the now unmissable event is experiencing its first controversy: it is being criticized on social media for its lack of parity, reflecting the difficulties for female streamers to emerge on Twitch.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic makes it uncertain whether it will be held, the 2020 edition is taking place, behind closed doors in a hotel. This does not prevent streamers from doubling their inventiveness to motivate viewers to donate, even small amounts: the most famous personalities are launching a competition for the lives that have collected the most donations, and promise to take on challenges for each new level reached. The success is growing, since 5.7 million euros are collected for the benefit of Amnesty International.

For its sixth year, ZEvent is preceded by a concert, and its audience reaches new heights for an event broadcast online, with peaks of more than a million simultaneous viewers. They send more than 10 million euros intended for Action Against Hunger, crossing a new symbolic threshold. But it is tainted by the sexist remarks of the streamer Inoxtag, and the wave of harassment suffered by another participant, Ultia, after she criticized him. “We cannot always control the escalation, we obviously condemn the harassment that followed”the organizer Zerator then reacted on X.

The streaming marathon is being held again in 2022 and, for the first time, donations are stagnating compared to the previous year, despite the presence of the singer Soprano at the inaugural concert. In total, a little over 10.1 million euros are collected for the benefit of several environmental associations: Sea Shepherd, the League for the Protection of Birds, The Sea Cleaners and WWF. Its organizers also present this edition as the end of a cycle – a “last great clowning” before the return to a more modest event, explained Zerator beforehand. Enough to add a dose of uncertainty, two years later, before the return of ZEvent.