Along with the rest of the world, the video game industry has stood in solidarity with Ukraine ever since the Russian government began its brutal attack. Not only have developers, publishers, and manufacturers halted all sales and operations in Russia, but many of them have pledged or collected monetary donations for relief efforts in the country. Now, Epic Games has announced that all proceeds made in Fortnite from today till April 3 will go towards relief efforts in Ukraine. The company has set up a page that shows the charities it will be donating to, and how it will work. "Epic is committing all its Fortnite proceeds from March 20, 2022 through April 3, 2022 to humanitarian relief for people affected by the war in Ukraine," reads the page. "Xbox is joining us in this effort and is committing their net proceeds for Fortnite during this time, so that we can get more aid to the people of Ukraine."The charities that will be supported by this effort are Direct Relief, UNICEF, UNFWP, and The UN Refugee Agency. More organizations will be added over the week. "All real-money Fortnite purchases made between March 20, 2022 and April 3, 2022 will be distributed," explained Epic. "This includes V-Buck packs, Fortnite Crew, gifted Battle Passes, and cosmetic packs such as the Voidlander Pack sold for real money. Retail store purchases of in-game cosmetics and V-Bucks cards will also be included if they are redeemed in-game during this window."
What's more, Epic Games will not be waiting for the actual funds to be credited from platform and payment partners. In a bid to ensure that the financial relief reaches the organizations as quickly as possible, it will log and send funds to the organisation as soon as transactions are reported in the back end.
Microsoft has also joined Epic in this effort, and will contribute all net proceeds from all sales of Fortnite content on the Microsoft Store during this period.
Humble Bundle's Stand with Ukraine bundle was also curated and launched to help with relief efforts in the country. It managed to raise over $5 million in less than 24 hours.