SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gaming personalities TmarTn, GoldGloveTV, Jeriicho, Hutch, and VernNotice today announced they are partnering to present the 2015 “#TheRace to Prestige,” a video game marathon sponsored by Best Buy, streamed live at twitch.tv/therace from November 5-10, 2015 from Treyarch Studios where the game was created. This year, gamers will take on Call of Duty®: Black Ops III, the highly anticipated new release from the Call of Duty® video game franchise. For a week, five top gaming personalities will play the game around the clock relay style on Twitch. The gamers have teamed up with stream-for-charity website Tiltify, which prompts audience members to donate as they watch. The event will raise funds that will go directly to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit that tackles the challenging issue of veteran unemployment. 100% of the Endowment’s grants support best-in-class organizations that prepare veterans for the civilian job market and help place them into high quality careers. #TheRace is sponsored by Best Buy, which is providing 200 Gamers Club Unlocked memberships to viewers who donate $25 to the Call of Duty Endowment.
From its start in 2003, the Call of Duty® franchise continues to be among the most highly anticipated annual game launches. “Call of Duty®: Black Ops III,” the twelfth primary installment in the series, is developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. The game is set to be released for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC on Friday, November 6, 2015.
The gamers behind #TheRace include:
- Jeriicho’s content revolves around gaming comedy and skits. He is well known for his high-energy and fun-playing attitude. He has garnered more than 865,000 YouTube subscribers and 476,000 Twitter followers.
- TmarTn is known for his great tips and tricks in Call of Duty®. He has worked with Activision to create Call of Duty® strategy guides and is one of the top sources for Call of Duty® tips. This makes TmarTn a notable gaming resource to his 2,560,000 YouTube subscribers, 660,000 Twitter followers and 334,000 Instagram followers.
- GoldGloveTV offers content revolving around lets-plays and group multiplayer videos. He is well known for his down-to-earth, genuine personality and collaboration videos with other notable YouTubers. He boasts 1,195,000 YouTube subscribers, 282,000 Twitter followers, 918,000 Twitch followers and 129,000 Instagram followers.
- Hutch was one of the first gamers in the YouTube world. He quickly grew in popularity until he was hired as one of the faces of the Machinima Respawn channel. He paved the way for many current YouTubers, and is now a regular streamer on Twitch. He has 890,000 YouTube subscribers, 227,000 Twitter followers and 185,000 loyal Twitch followers.
- VernNotice has been active in the gaming community since 2009. Vern hails from a competitive Gears of War background where he teamed up with GoldGloveTV. Now a full-time variety streamer, he's made a name for himself as one of the funniest on Twitch with over 168,000 followers and 52,000 Twitter followers.
The live stream will begin on November 5, 2015 at 12 p.m. PST ahead of the retail launch of Activision’s “Call of Duty®: Black Ops III” video game on November 6, and run continuously 24 hours a day for six days through November 10, 2015 at 5 p.m. PST. #TheRace will be broadcast on Twitch, which garners 100 million online visitors monthly. As the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers, Twitch is more than watching other people play games. It is live social video that enables broadcasters and their audiences to interact and share their gaming experiences.
“Veterans are three times more likely to be unemployed than the average American – it’s a huge and underreported problem,” said Dan Goldenberg, Executive Director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “Every dollar we raise for the Call of Duty Endowment goes directly to placing veterans into quality jobs. We’re grateful for the support from the streamers, Activision, Twitch, Best Buy, and all who participate in the Race to Prestige.”
About Treyarch
Treyarch is a video game studio driven by the desire to create epic gameplay experiences that are enjoyed by as many video game fans as possible. It is an approach that has helped to make the studio an industry-leading game developer, whose Call of Duty: Black Ops II set world-wide launch day records, and whose previous game Call of Duty: Black Ops set an entertainment launch opening record upon its release in 2010 and continues to be one of the best-selling games of all time, according to NPD and GfK Chart-Track. Treyarch is a wholly owned by Activision Publishing, Inc.
About the Call of Duty Endowment
The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit, public benefit corporation co-founded by Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. The Endowment helps veterans find high quality careers by supporting groups that prepare them for the job market and by raising awareness of the value vets bring to the workplace. For more information about the Call of Duty Endowment, please visit www.callofdutyendowment.org.
ACTIVISION and CALL OF DUTY are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
About Twitch
Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Each month, more than 100 million community members gather to watch and talk about video games with more than 1.7 million broadcasters. Twitch’s video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for the entire video game ecosystem. This includes game developers, publishers, media outlets, events, user generated content, and the entire esports scene. For more information visit the Twitch website and blog.
About Best Buy
Best Buy is a leading provider of technology products, services and solutions. The company offers expert service at an unbeatable price more than 1.5 billion times a year to the consumers, small business owners and educators who visit our stores, engage with Geek Squad Agents or use BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app. The company has operations in the U.S. where more than 70 percent of the population lives within 15 minutes of a Best Buy store, as well as in Canada and Mexico, where Best Buy has a physical and online presence.
