Fortnite’s fundraising period for Ukraine relief efforts has come to an end, with the Battle Royale game racking up a remarkable $144 million in a two-week span. The final total proceeds will be split between five humanitarian organizations currently operating in Ukraine, namely UNICEF, Direct Relief, World Food Program, Central World Cuisineand the UN Refugee Agency.
epic games originally announced the fundraising effort on March 20, stating that for two weeks all profits from in-game sales would go to humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Xbox also joined the fundraising effort, committing its own Fortnite resources during the period. Epic announced the final total via a tweet on the official Fortnite Twitter account:
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 $144M for @DirectRelief @UNICEF, @WFP, @Refugees and @WCKitchen. pic.twitter.com/lPAa8lmfJnApril 4, 2022
The drive coincided with the release of Chapter 3, Season 2 of Fortnite, during which in-game purchases will be at their highest. The funds raised make Epic one of, if not the biggest, corporate donors to humanitarian efforts in the Russo-Ukraine war. It’s difficult to quantify exactly where Epic’s contribution lies, but the amount is equivalent to the contribution of some entire countries. For context, according to this list of grants to Ukraine, the Czech Republic has donated $66 million in aid to Ukrainian refugees, plus a further $13.2 million in humanitarian aid to civilians still in Ukraine (these figures do not include the Czech Republic’s contributions to military aid).
In short, it’s a huge amount of money going to an extremely worthy cause. In your latest status reportUNICEF said that as of 31 March, around 4 million people had fled Russia’s attack on Ukraine to other countries, while a further 6.5 million people had been displaced within Ukraine itself.