‘Fortnite’ raises £109million for Ukraine relief

Epic Games has announced that the Fortnite community, alongside Xbox, has raised £109,760,400 ($144million) in support of Ukraine.

• READ MORE: How the games industry has responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

In a new Tweet, the developer said: “Our deepest thanks to everyone who joined us in supporting humanitarian relief efforts for people affected by the war in Ukraine.”

The funds raised will go towards aiding Ukraine in the ongoing invasion from Russia, which began on February 24, and will be distributed to charities such as Direct Relief, UNICEF, World Food Program, the UN Refugee Agency, and World Central Kitchen.

Our deepest thanks to everyone who joined us in supporting humanitarian relief efforts for people affected by the war in Ukraine.

Together with the Fortnite community and @Xbox, we raised $144 million USD for @DirectRelief @UNICEF, @WFP, @Refugees and @WCKitchen. pic.twitter.com/lPAa8lmfJn

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 4, 2022

Epic Games announced its plans to raise money for Ukraine relief on March 20 and pledged to donate all proceeds from Fortnite until April 3. The funds came from all real-money Fortnite purchases made between this time, including V-Buck packs, gifted Battle Passes, and cosmetic packs such as the Voidlander Pack, which sold for real money. Re-activated or new Fortnite Crew subscription renewals processed were also included towards relief funds and during this time, players were not able to opt-out of the scheme.

Xbox shortly joined Epic in supporting the people of Ukraine “by contributing net proceeds for Fortnite during this time.”

Epic Games and Xbox aren’t the only game companies helping in the aid of Ukraine. As Russia’s invasion of the country escalates, and millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country, development studios have pledged their support.

Last week (March 15), Square Enix has announced that it will be donating £383,417 ($500,000) toward humanitarian aid efforts. On March 13, Bandai Namco announced it would be donating £650,000 (100million Yen) to Save The Children, while other studios like CD Projekt Red announced it would no longer be selling its products in Russian and Belarusian regions.

In other news, World Of Tanks developer Wargaming has announced that it will be leaving both Russia and Belarus, saying it expects “substantial losses”.

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