Epic Games announced last Sunday that it would donate the following two weeks’ worth of proceeds from Fortnite to humanitarian relief organizations working in war-torn Ukraine. Xbox also joined the effort and is donating its profits from Fortnite during the same period.
Just a day later, on Monday, the gaming giant revealed that Fortnite players had helped it raise $36 million. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, on Wednesday, it said funds had now reached an astonishing $50 million. And there’s still 10 days to go.
As of today, we’ve raised $50 million USD together in humanitarian relief funds to support people affected by the war in Ukraine.
To see more about how the funds are being distributed visit https://t.co/aexRh7ZEWQ pic.twitter.com/IETgljrXV8
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 22, 2022
Apart from shedding light on the incredible amounts of money that hit games are now able to generate, the funds are also a testament to the generosity of Fortnite players as they splash the cash on in-game purchases in order to support a worthy cause.
Funds from Fortnite will help support the Ukraine-based work of organizations such as Unicef, the U.N. World Food Programme, the U.N. Refugee Agency, and Direct Relief.
“They are on the ground providing emergency aid, including health support, food and clean water, essential supplies, legal aid, and shelter,” Epic Games said, adding that more organizations will be included in the coming weeks.
On its website, Epic said it is distributing the funds “as quickly as we can,” and it is not waiting for the actual money to come in from its platform and payment partners. “As transactions are reported, we’ll log them and send the funds to the humanitarian relief organizations within days,” the North Carolina-headquartered company said.
Sections of the video game industry have also responded to the crisis in Ukraine by suspending operations in Russia, the country that invaded it at the end of February. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, for example, have all taken action that means Russia-based gamers are now finding it harder to find new content for their consoles.
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