Xbox donates $10,000 to charity in memory of Dogmeat from Fallout 4

By Hirun Cryer
published

The real-life counterpart to Dogmeat sadly passed away last month

Fallout 4
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Xbox is donating money to the Montgomery County Humane Society in honor of Fallout 4's Dogmeat.

Just below, you can see the announcement from the official Xbox Twitter account, which came earlier this week on July 7. As the tweet states, Xbox will be donating a grand total of $10,000 to the Montgomery County Humane Society, and those who wish to donate alongside Xbox can do so by following the link in the tweet just below.

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This all follows after news broke late last month that River, the dog who Fallout 4's Dogmeat was based on, sadly passed away. Joel Burgess, a game designer who previously worked with Bethesda Game Studios on Fallout 3, 4, and 76, took to Twitter on June 27 to announce the sad news.

In the tweet thread that accompanied the announcement, Burgess reflected on his time working with River during the development of Fallout 4, writing that he wanted her to be a "companion first, and a combat ally second." Burgess also detailed how, near the beginning of development, Bethesda turned to dogs with professional training in acting, but in the end they turned to River due to her bonding with the team during the development process.

We'd highly recommend reading through the detailed and heartfelt tweet thread from Burgess. It's a brilliant look at not only how game designers approaching implementing real-life animals in their games, but also how they bond with said animals over the course of years. Additionally, you can watch the video below from Gamespot, which was published all the way back in 2015, for some behind-the-scenes footage on Dogmeat's development.

There's no doubt in my mind that Dogmeat remains one of the highlights of Fallout 4. The canine companion left a surprising impression in me when I first played the game all those years ago, to the point where I'd actually forget all about the other companions on offer throughout Bethesda's RPG because I was just having such an enjoyable time roaming the wasteland with Dogmeat. Burgess hopes in his tweet thread that love is River's legacy, and that's something on which we'd absolutely agree.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.