A lot of the time, we just don’t think about where games come from. We don’t think about the teams of people who put endless amounts of time and energy into them. And on the rare occasions in which we do, it’s usually to bemoan how some aspect of some game is disappointing for one reason or another. Rarely do the developers– the individuals not the companies– rarely do they see the respect and adoration they deserve. Without them, we’d have nothing to play.

With all the work put into these projects, there’s something especially tragic about someone passing away in the middle of one. That’s just what happened last year when Michael Forgey, a Middle-earth: Shadow of War producer, passed away. He fought through a particularly difficult form of cancer for nearly a year before passing away on March 3, 2016.

The team behind Shadow of War was heartbroken and new that something had to be done; so they came up with a touching and meaningful tribute to honor Forgey and help his family at the same time. 

Available as a DLC for Shadow of War is a character named Forthog the Orcslayer. You see, Forgey was affectionately known as ‘Forthog’ and according to many, he had a tendency to swoop in and save the day when things got tough. As such, the Shadow of War team created Forthog the Orcslayer, an NPC who shows up to kill a few orcs when the going gets tough and then disappears until he’s needed once again.

The character is available for pre-order for $4.99.

Unfortunately, there is one anomaly that needs to be mentioned. Only a portion of the proceeds from  Forthog the Orcslayer actually go to Forgey’s family. The full statement from Warner Bros. Interactive on Steam is,

WB Games will donate to the Forgey family $3.50 from every purchase of the Forthog Orcslayer made from any 1 of the 50 United States or D.C. (but, excluding purchases made from AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC) through December 31, 2019. Void where prohibited by law. Your purchase is not tax deductible.

Interpret that however you’d like, but we wish it weren’t so contrived. Plenty of gaming companies have created similar homages in the past in which 100% of proceeds have gone to charity, regardless of location. Just this last weekend, Games Done Quick ran a 48-hour last minute charity event for the victims of Hurricane Harvey in which every donation went straight to charity. 

Nonetheless, it’s great to see Forgey being honored in the game he worked so hard on and we hope that his family benefits greatly from the Orcslayer’s sales.