Extra Life 2013 pulls in record-high $3.7M in spite of DDoS attack

Extra Life 2013 took place this past weekend, and so far, more than 31,000 players have contributed in excess of $3.7 million to this year's fundraising drive for children in hospitals, according to a statement released by the organization today.

That's the highest total yet in the six-year history of Extra Life, which is particularly impressive considering the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that hit the Extra Life website and intermittently took it down throughout and after the event this weekend. About $2 million of the total came before the livestreamed gaming marathons began Nov. 2, and the remaining $1.7 million was donated since then.

The personal data of visitors to the Extra Life website was never in jeopardy since a DDoS attack is not a hack, said Todd Levy, managing partner at web host DonorDrive, in a press release today.

Extra Life is accepting additional donations through the end of the year, and because of the attacks, Extra Life's organizers will hold a makeup day on Saturday, Nov. 9.