Epic Games and Microsoft have raised over $70 million through Fortnite in-game purchases to be donated to humanitarian aid in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. There is still a week left until the end of the campaign.
Epic has pledged that from March 20 to April 3, all proceeds from real money purchases in Fortnite will be donated to four humanitarian organizations currently operating in Ukraine: Direct Relief, UNICEF, the UN World Food Program, and the UN Refugee agency. “More organizations will be added to this list in the coming weeks,” the company says. Xbox has agreed to partner with Epic on this issue and will add its net income from Fortnite during this period to the money raised.
Epic explained in a blog post that it does not expect transactions to be fully processed, but instead plans to distribute the funds raised “within days.”
It's hard to put this amount into context, but if you look at the list of foreign aid given to Ukraine during this time, Fortnite has contributed more than some smaller countries. In terms of other companies, this seems to be the largest contribution ever made (Meta Platforms i.e. Facebook donated $15 million; Amazon $10 million; Samsung around $6 million).
Fortnite's fundraiser will continue for seven more days, and it's not even sincere that it broke $100 million because it took days to collect $70 million. Fortnite already appears to be the biggest corporate donor of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the amount will be even higher at the end of the campaign period.
Epic and Microsoft deserve all the credit for this, especially as they chose to launch their fundraiser at the same time as Chapter 3 Season 2's launch on March 20. (exactly when players will buy their battle tickets and make new fantasies). Epic will continue to donate revenue to Ukraine until the campaign ends on April 3.
Kaynak