If you’ve been living under a rock on Mars with your fingers in your ears and your eyes shut and no phone signal, it might surprise you to learn the UK is holding its next general election this week, on Thursday, December 12. With just three days to go at the time of writing, games industry figures have joined calls to get gamers to vote in the poll.
Companies such as Bethesda, Activision, Ubisoft, and Frontier have backed the Gamechangers campaign, started by presenter and actor Elle Osili-Wood, which is focused on encouraging people to cast their vote. Anyone who tweets a picture of themselves, using the hashtag #GamechangersGiveaway, outside their polling station on Thursday will be entered into a prize draw for 200 games and plenty more prizes.
“It’s never been more important to vote – it’s time to step up and be a gamechanger,” Osili-Wood told GamesIndustry.biz. “With 85% of UK adults under 35 regularly playing video games, gamers are a significant demographic in the upcoming election, so I’m thrilled to see the games industry come together to get out the vote.”
This Thursday, it's incredibly important to vote. So, I'm launching a massive #GamechangersGiveaway, with 200 GAMES up for grabs, as well as a huge Grand Prize!
To enter, you'll need to take a selfie outside the polling station after you vote.
Want to know what you could win? pic.twitter.com/F06Aupc08R
— Elle Osili-Wood (@ElleOsiliWood) December 9, 2019
While people of all ages play games regularly, young people are especially likely to do so. Voter turnout is traditionally low among young people in the UK.
Separate to the Gamechangers campaign, Untitled Goose Game developer House House recently pleaded with people to vote for Labour, prompting both positive and negative responses in the replies. Other developers and publishers have remained politically neutral.
NON-GOOSE TWEET:
if you're in the UK, please, please, please go and vote for a Labour government on Dec 12th
END NON-GOOSE TWEET pic.twitter.com/dcPZhn5V2f
— House House (@house_house_) December 5, 2019
The UK general election is on Thursday, December 12, with polling stations open from 7:00 until 22:00 GMT. Find your polling station here using the government’s search tool.