The 16 Bit Arena website outlines plans to begin offering 16 Bit Arena as a free download with donation support for two weeks as an experiment to see if this will be a sustainable way to distribute this retro multiplayer battle game. They will be offering donors the chance to be included in the game, and will be giving 10% of the donations to ChildFund. The game will be free on Amazon, GreenManGaming, Desura, ShinyLoot, IndieCity, and IndieVania, though this promotion won't start for a couple of weeks, so sales will probably suffer in the meantime. Here's the scheme:

This giveaway is planned as a one-time thing, but during the promotion, if we get enough people (filling even one server completely with 9v9s), we'll be experimenting with something new. We'll open up donations, and every $5 you send will put you in a drawing to get a character made just for you! And if this is successful enough, we'll keep the game free permanently and do the drawing on a regular basis. If you don't win, 10% of everything sent will still go to ChildFund (supports hungry children around the world), so either way somebody wins.