Life is Strange 2 publisher Square Enix has announced a partnership with Centrepoint, a young homeless charity based in the UK to help raise awareness of the issue this winter.
Centrepoint & Life Is Strange 2 Join Forces
Centrepoint believes that every young person deserves the support to help them get a home and job regardless of their background. The organisation offers a free telephone service, email, and online chat for those aged 16-25 who are either homeless or worried about being made homeless.
The charity notes that there has been a 165% increase in the number of people sleeping rough since 2010, and hopes to raise awareness of the issue among Life is Strange 2 players.
Square Enix Eternal Studios boss, Jon Brooke, said:
Life is Strange as a series has provided players with a glimpse into slices of life they may have never even considered, and has provided awareness of a great number of issues faced by young people in our society, creating some truly inspirational conversation among players. In Life is Strange 2, the Diaz brothers are cast out on their own, dealing with issues many homeless young people face on a daily basis.
We know that Life is Strange fans are passionate about the themes they encounter in the game, and so by partnering with great organizations like Centrepoint, we hope to provide a way for them to get involved with helping share the message that there are places young people can turn in times of hardship.
Paul Brocklehurst, Centrepoint’s helpline head, added:
When Square Enix approached us, and introduced us to Life is Strange 2, we were incredibly impressed by the game’s portrayal of homelessness among young people. Sean and Daniel find themselves made homeless at the beginning of the game. And though throughout the story they find places to stay, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have a home. Being homeless means not having a safe place to call home.
We know thousands of young people sleep rough every night, but there are thousands more sleeping on sofas, floors, night buses or with strangers – these are the “hidden homeless”. And it’s far more prevalent than people think – in fact 73% of young people we recently surveyed said they had sofa surfed as they had nowhere else to stay and 27 per cent spent a night in a tent.