Epic Games has announced that Fortnite has raised $36 million for humanitarian relief for Ukraine in a single day.
The developer and publisher announced the figures on Twitter, declaring that all funds will go to Direct Relief, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), and UNHCR — The UN Refugee Agency.
Epic Games announced yesterday they would raise funds alongside Microsoft’s Xbox for Ukrainian relief for two weeks. All profits from V-Buck packs, Fortnite Crew, and in-store purchases will count towards their donation for Ukraine, as well as Microsoft’s net profits from Fortnite microtransactions.
Using V-Bucks in-game, however, will not count as “those are not real-money purchases,” Epic said.
Creator earnings won’t be affected by the fundraising campaign, although Epic has encouraged creators to partner up with an organization of their choosing if they wish to support the efforts. “Epic will separately fund all Creator affiliate payments from code usage between March 20, 2022 and April 3, 2022, so that all of Epic’s Fortnite proceeds earned during that time period can be distributed to humanitarian relief organizations,” the developer wrote in a FAQ.
Epic Games isn’t the only company that’s encouraging players to help give back to those in need. Humble Bundle started its ‘Stand with Ukraine‘ campaign where all profits will go towards helping Ukrainian refugees. So far, more than $11.5 million has been raised. Other companies, such as The Pokémon Company and Hyper Hippo have pledged to donate funds in support of humanitarian aid and Ubisoft announced material support to their Ukrainian staff during this crisis.
The Fortnite fundraising campaign will end on April 3, 2022, and more information is posted on their website.