Specialist UK games retailer, GAME, has launched a new charity drive: The New Year Sock Swap.
For every clean and unworn pair of unwanted socks donated in-store, the donor will receive an extra £2 of store credit when they bring in games to trade, or £15 if they wish to trade in tablets, phones, or consoles. In turn, the retailer will pass on the socks to “people who actually want them and kickstart 2020 positively”.
“Following the Christmas period, unwanted socks get thrown to the back of the drawer and forgotten, or worse still – they go straight in the bin,” explains a press release. “Over 25 per cent of Brits class socks as their least-desired Christmas present, with a combined £5B a year wasted on unwanted presents, whilst the number one requested item for the UK’s homeless shelter is….. socks!”
Every pair of socks collected will then be donated to “various homeless charities to help communities up and down the country”.
It’s unclear how long the retailer is running the campaign, so if you had unwanted socks under the tree this year, drop them in as soon as you can.
GAME also recently revealed a new console hire-purchase scheme that gives players an Xbox and a monthly Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for a monthly fee. Called Xbox All Access, the scheme works like a phone contract, enabling players to spread out the cost of purchasing the hardware with monthly payments across two years. It’s thought to be the first such scheme available in the UK.
There are three Xbox All Access tiers available; an Xbox One X scheme, which includes a limited time offer upgrade option to Project Scarlett when it releases next year, Xbox One S, and the Xbox One S All Digital Edition. Each bundle includes 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes Xbox’s gaming library, as well as online multiplayer with Xbox Live Gold. They cost £25, £20, and £18 per month respectively.
“It’s the most affordable way to buy a console and play all the latest games,” Martyn Gibbs, CEO of GAME Digital, said at the time.