[Industry news] Core Keeper’s ancient Core becomes a one of a kind gaming PC, to be won for charity

This is a press release posted alongside our usual editorial content.

More than 4 million people have played Core Keeper, and every one of them started the same way, waking in a dark cavern beside an ancient Core that has lain dormant for aeons. Pugstorm and Fireshine Games, the game’s developer and publisher, have now worked with Scan to build that Core into a real gaming PC. It is one of a kind, and it is the prize in the Global Games Draw, a new prize draw for Into Games, a UK charity that helps young people from working class backgrounds into careers in games. Every entry raises money for that work.

The PC started as a concept with the Core Keeper team and is themed to the game inside and out, with the Core Keeper logo on the front panel. The Core sits at the centre of the build, with cracks that light up from inside and a ring of stones around it.

It is being made by hand by Scan’s 3XS Systems team, around an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor and an ASUS RTX 5080 graphics card. As a finished, one of a kind build, it is worth an estimated £10,000.

“At Scan, we live and breathe games. When Into Games asked us to bring Core Keeper to life in a custom PC build, our 3XS team jumped at the chance. Turning the Core into the centrepiece of the build has been a great challenge for our engineers, and it’s rewarding to work on a build with a purpose: it will help raise money to create a fair pathway for people to get into the games industry.” Sam Hibbert, Head of Pro Gaming, Scan

Core Keeper is a mining and survival adventure set deep underground, where players dig, build, farm and fight their way through an ancient cavern, alone or with up to 7 friends. Made by Pugstorm in Linköping, Sweden, it left Early Access in August 2024 and is played on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. It won Best Social Game at the TIGA Awards, and PC Gamer said it “gets the mix of cozy and creepy just right”.

“Our players have spent years digging their way towards the Core, so a real machine built around the game was something we wanted to be part of. Scan have taken our world and made something you can put on your desk.” Fredrik Präntare, CEO and Creative Director, Pugstorm

Only 13% of people working in UK games are from working class backgrounds, against 37% of the UK population, according to Into Games’ 2024 Difficulty Level report. Into Games is working to change that, and the money raised funds its work helping young people from working class and low income backgrounds get into games careers, and stay in them.

“For a lot of young people the problem isn’t talent, it’s knowing that a way in exists at all. Every entry to this draw helps us show more of them where that way in is.” Declan Cassidy, CEO, Into Games

Entry is £5, or 3 entries for £10, at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/core-keeper until 9pm UK time on Sunday 29th November. Players in most countries can enter, and Into Games will deliver the PC to the winner’s home, wherever they live, with any import charges paid. There is a free postal entry route, and full terms and conditions are at the same address. Entrants must be 18 or over. The winner is picked at random on Monday 30th November, overseen by an independent person.