Why Devcats Games Uses Cat-Themed Game Proceeds for IRL Rescue

Raising Awareness and Funds for Shelters

Even before Devcats was profitable, the team donated time and funds when possible to local shelters and foster homes. There’s a dedicated, monthly budget for assisting shelters large and small in Brazil and Sao Paulo, each of which follows best practices for cat care and adoption.

“It’s not a fixed budget because it depends on the needs of certain shelters, but we always donate something and our humans always help out, because shelters are full of cats,” Fofiño meows. “When we started to get more money, we helped more, and our humans help individually.

“We’re also always talking about fostering and adoption. Our games and the stories they tell are ones we learn from living with and seeing this kind of stuff.”

For the 2024 puzzle game Cats Love Boxes, Devcats offered players the chance to have their cats featured in the game in exchange for a one-time $20 donation via Ko-Fi. The money went to a cat cafe and shelter, which is also featured in the game. Also in 2024, Devcats co-created Stray Cats in Cozy Town with Travellin Cats and donated all proceeds to the Humane Society.

Fofiño says that since the developer’s primary audience is in North America and dispersing funds internationally can be difficult, the Devcats team works with a large organization that can divvy up donations in North America on their behalf. Eventually, the team hopes to do something similar for its European fans.

“We want to help everyone, but we know we can’t,” Fofiño mews, noting that his humans feel similarly. “So we focus on education, advocating for cat wellness and cat welfare. By teaching these things in our games, we believe we can make a real difference. We want our human friends to see us as pure beings who need help, and we try to be sweet and cozy in our messaging so it’s palatable.”

Forming a Community

“With our first games, it was very surprising that we got so many people not only loving the games, but the message, too,” Fofiño purrs. “We were getting a lot of emails and we decided to start a Discord, which has grown slowly but steadily.”

At time of writing, the Devcats Games Discord server boasts over 5,500 members, with active conversations happening in multiple channels. In addition to channels for each game, there are also community channels where people can share photos of their cats, talk about cats, and more. Here and on their various social media pages, as well as through reviews, Devcats is able to listen to community feedback on what they like or don’t like about its titles and make improvements. Fofiño says the team took notes from fellow indie studio Rusty Lake on its community building.

“We respect our consumers as consumers and we want to give you polished games,” Fofiño says. “We want to make them look good and to make you feel good while playing. We were the selling point; we know you love cats! But we don’t want to create cash grabs.”

As for the future, Fofiño has one star he’d like to work with: Jackson Galaxy.

“We really would love to have his likeness officially featured in a game, because we think that he is one of the most amazing people out there and an amazing advocate for animal welfare,” Fofiño purrs. “We’d love it if we could work with him.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.