The season of giving has kicked off and The Game Theorists have started off strong with a massive collaborative charity event on Giving Tuesday that spent over 10 hours raising money for cancer research and treatment. Throughout the all-day livestream event, multiple YouTubers and content creators raised millions of dollars for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the foundation’s efforts in the fight against childhood cancer.

Over the 10-hour event hosted on The Game Theorists’ channel, known for the gaming analysis show Game Theory, Matthew “MatPat” Patrick and his wife and co-host Stephanie Patrick raised a ton of money for St. Jude. This marks the second time that The Game Theorists have hosted a fundraiser for the organization, as the channel’s small crew worked alongside YouTube in 2019 to pull off a similar event.

In total, The Game Theorists raised $3 million for St. Jude throughout the livestream event, beating their previous record from 2019 that had reached $1.3 million for charity. YouTubers from all over the country joined in as well, both in-person and virtually, including prominent names like MrBeast, Markiplier, Game Grumps, Kyle Hill, Mark Rober, and dozens of other content creators. The entertainment for the show consisted mostly of gaming content roughly related to The Game Theorists and the guests, like a high IQ matchup of players for Among Us and a gaming trivia show.

The Game Theorists set an ambitious goal of $1 Million for its second annual fundraiser, well under the amount earned in 2019. The lowered goal was due primarily to the difficulty of setting up the event and the expectation that the economic impact of COVID-19 would make donating difficult for most viewers. Fortunately,  brands like State Farm, Ocean Spray, Wizards of the Coast, and YouTube helped the gaming charity event triple that initial goal and double the amount earned in the previous year.

Considering that the cost of running St. Jude is now around $3 million per day, The Game Theorists have managed to raise enough funds to pay for an entire day of treatment for the organization’s patients. This high cost is due to St. Jude’s mission to offer treatment to young cancer patients completely free of charge. As a result, raising a full day’s worth of funds often becomes a major milestone for events like The Game Theorists’ livestream.

Viewers can still donate to St. Jude through The Game Theorist’s fundraiser event on Tiltify.