Fortnite And Xbox Cap Off Ukraine Fundraising With A Truly Huge Total

"Fortnite" players and Xbox have finished off their fundraising campaign with a whopping $144 million for humanitarian charities helping the victims of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Epic Games made the announcement in a blog post and on Twitter today thanking players for their contributions to their cause during the period between March 20 and April 3, 2022.

"Our deepest thanks to everyone who joined us in supporting humanitarian relief efforts for people affected by the war in Ukraine," Epic tweeted through the official "Fortnite" account. The company revealed that the $144 million figure was going to Direct Relief, UNICEF, UN World Food Programme, and UNHCR. Added to the list of charities is World Central Kitchen, an organization founded by Chef José Andrés that is charged with sending cooks to feed people in regions plagued by conflict and natural disasters, starting with Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

On March 21, Epic Games announced that it would donate two weeks' worth of proceeds raised from in-game purchases to Ukraine following other gaming companies Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red, The Pokemon Company, and Humble, which launched their own efforts to help out the war-torn country. That same day, the "Fortnite" community raised $36 million for the aforementioned charities. That means $108 million in proceeds were added between then and now.

The lion's share of the money "Fortnite" and Xbox raised for Ukraine came from in-game purchases players made over the past two weeks. That included V-Buck packs, "Fortnite" Crew subscriptions, gifted Battle Passes, and cosmetic packs sold for real money, though spending V-Bucks didn't contribute to the total. 

The Voidlander Pack and the Chloe Kim Pack were the only cosmetics bundles that came out during the fundraising campaign, so your money was well spent if you happened to redeem either of them in the Item Shop. Meanwhile, Xbox contributed all of the net proceeds from the sales of all "Fortnite" content made via the Microsoft Store in countries where the game is available. 

For content creators who were worried about the campaign affecting their earnings, Epic said that was not the case. The company previously explained that it separately funded all "Creator" affiliate payments for streamers via code usage for those who are part of the Support-A-Creator program. However, it told content creators who wanted to contribute their Support-A-Creator earnings to Ukraine that they could partner with a charity of their choosing.