On 20th March Epic Games announced that all real-money purchases made in Fortnite would go to organisations providing relief in Ukraine, and now we have an update on this charitable drive.
$50 million has been raised in the less than three days since the programme was announced. This amount of money raised is even more impressive as it’s actually closer to two days depending on your time zone.
For those wondering $50 million is worth around R740 million using the exchange rate at the time of publication. We wouldn’t be surprised if this number passes R1 billion before tomorrow.
For those playing the game wanting to contribute, most forms of purchases will apply here including physical content (usually codes) bought in brick and mortar stores although it does exclude the spending of V-Bucks which have already been acquired.
“All real-money Fortnite purchases made between March 20, 2022 and April 3, 2022 will be distributed. 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,” the announcement reads.
Epic Games is donating the gross purchase price of these transactions. Microsoft, on the other hand is also involved, though in a different way.
“Microsoft is contributing net proceeds from all sales of Fortnite content on Microsoft Store between March 20, 2022 to April 3, 2022, in all countries where Fortnite is sold. Net proceeds is equal to the gross proceeds net of returns & chargebacks, billing costs, bandwidth cost, operations cost, and taxes,” said announcement continues.
Even better is that the other avenues of monetisation are being included too. Money from the Fortnite Crew paid memberships will also be donated to charity for any re-activations and renewals done before 3rd April. Those in the Support-A-Creator program won’t see their earnings affected, however, as Epic Games will pay these itself.
Creators who would like to donate their earnings are encouraged to do so in a separate capacity with the existing organisations given a nod. The UNHCR Refugee Agency, UN World Food Programme, UNICEF and Direct Relief are all being supported with the money raised in Fortnite.
Those who want the finer details about this initiative such as tax details should look at the FAQ on this page.
Even if you’re not a fan of Fortnite this is a fantastic charity drive by Epic Games and Microsoft.
