Bloomingdale gamer raises over $80,000 for charity

Walking into Edwin Castro's Bloomingdale apartment, you might not notice at first what makes him different from most 23-year-olds.

Then you'd see that instead of a laptop and the usual miscellaneous paperwork lying on his desk, Castro has three computer monitors, several video game controllers and merchandise from his sponsor, Steel Series. You'd notice the professional-grade microphone and foam squares soundproofing the wall.

When you learn Castro is a professional video game streamer, you'll think you've figured out what sets him apart. But you're only halfway there.

While Castro has been building an audience of online fans who like to watch him play soccer on his PlayStation 4, he's leveraged his popularity to raise more than $134,000 for charities in the last year.

Castro earns his living broadcasting himself playing FIFA 15, a simulated soccer video game, to his almost 600,000 followers via the website Twitch.tv. His rise to celebrity status on the website, which markets itself as a new form of television, happened seemingly overnight. When Castro received the new PlayStation 4 in early 2014, he discovered the “live” option and began to broadcast just for fun.

“I started doing it more, being a little more outgoing, more talkative and then more people would watch … 100, 200 (fans) and then it came to a point where they partnered me,” Castro said. “Now, things are just going crazy.”

Twitch has reached out to more than 10,000 streamers like Castro and provided them with cuts of advertising revenue from their pages and the opportunity for followers to subscribe. According to Forbes, professional video gamers earn $100,000 to $300,000 annually, but some make even more.

Castro says he is making a comfortable living, and he refuses to keep his success to himself.

“It's a blessing to be able to do this, to play video games for a living,” Castro said. “But, at the same time, it's awesome that you can help other people more than you think.”

Throughout the past year, Castro has dedicated four “charity streams” to raise money for those in need. He raised a little more than $4,000 during the first 30-hour stream, roughly $10,000 throughout the next 62-hour stream, then more than $40,000 for a holiday-themed 50-hour stream, donating the funds to Whizz-Kidz and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Castro, who grew up with chronic arthritis, chose to donate to Whizz-Kidz because it specializes in helping children with mobility issues.

Most recently, Castro raised more than $80,000 in a 50-hour marathon over Memorial Day weekend, donating $44,500 to Macmillan Cancer Support and the other $40,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Because Castro receives daily messages from followers who are either fighting cancer themselves or watching a family member suffer, he felt the need to donate the largest amount of money raised to these two organizations.

Many of his 170,000 Twitter followers tell him that, though they're ill, he is still able to put smiles on their faces with his entertaining, funny shows. He said that although he might feel like quitting around the 40th hour of a live stream, his pain is temporary compared to those undergoing chemotherapy and various stages of cancer treatment.

Castro managed to raise the prodigious amount in a number of ways. He averaged 20,000 viewers per charity stream, but reached an all-time high of 65,000 over Memorial Day weekend.

Many of the fans offered money to the cause. All revenue from subscriptions and advertising was donated, and Castro himself contributed almost $10,000 out-of-pocket. Some of his fellow streamers on Twitch also supported him.

“Nothing is kept behind,” Castro said. “ I like to round things up and send everything possible to charity.”

Jason Kroese followed Castro on Twitch for several months before meeting him in person at a promotional event. Now the two are close friends.

“Edwin is probably one of the most personable guys I've ever known, but he's also very humble,” Kroese said. “That's why he does the charity streams. He has a lot of things he wants to do for other people and he's going to see to it that those things are done.”

Castro said that as long as his mind, body and health allow him to do charity streams he will continue to do them, although he has not yet made plans for his next one.

With a steady income, Castro is also able to assist his parents. He is thankful for the opportunities his family provided him growing up and wants to show his gratitude.

“As a kid, they always had me in competitive sports, trying to keep me off the streets,” Castro said. “Now I can give back to them a little bit.”

Throughout high school and into college, he found himself surrounded by a plethora of negative influences. Castro believes that he could not have avoided these temptations without the strong moral upbringing his parents provided him.

“When other kids were doing the ‘bad' things, I was playing video games and playing soccer: my true passions,” Castro said.

From washing cars and working as a porter to playing video games as a career, Castro realizes his good fortune, but the job is not as simple as it may appear. Professional streamers must play consistently or risk losing “subs,” or subscribers.

On his day off, Castro lost about 50 people who chose not to resubscribe to his channel, Castro_1021. He also must keep his thousands of viewers entertained while he is live. He does this through giveaways, interaction, pure enthusiasm and occasionally inviting the pizza delivery man to play.

FIFA 15 offers a mode of play called Ultimate Team, which allows players to build their own soccer team with their favorite athletes. This adds an increased skill level for gamers who are able to access the stars of the sport. Castro has spent more than $35,000 on virtual soccer players this year alone, but says the investment does pay off.

Twitch is sending Castro and his girlfriend to E3 2015 this month in Los Angeles. The annual trade show for computer, video and mobile games and related products exhibits new gaming technology and never-before-seen products.

That Twitch will have a booth at the exposition comes as no surprise because it is such a quickly growing company. Purchased by Amazon for nearly $1 billion in 2014, it now attracts more than 100 million visitors per month. Its “social live streaming” has begun to rival the average prime time viewers of some cable networks.

With the help of Microsoft and Sony for installing live stream capabilities in their respective recently released Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Twitch's growth seems potentially exponential.

“I definitely think Twitch is growing and it'll keep on growing,” Castro said. “It'll be good for everyone. Even though it is the Internet, it's better than doing other stuff … other bad things.”

He said he will always consider helping those who need assistance, be it financially or by keeping children away from gangs and drugs, just like his parents helped him.