Gaming Industry Raising Millions for Ukraine Relief
Gamers and the video game industry are renowned for being extraordinarily generous with fundraisers for many charities. Several game companies have been raising funds and pitching in millions for Ukrainian relief programs. Epic Games, the developer of the hugely successful video game Fortnite, has revealed it’s raised $144 million.
On March 20th, in conjunction with Microsoft’s Xbox, the firm pledged to donate all of its proceeds from the game to Ukraine relief efforts for two weeks. The charities receiving the funds include UNICEF, Direct Relief, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Program.
Epic Games, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, announced the fundraising effort on the same day it released a new season of Fortnite Battle Royale and raised $36 million in the first 24 hours. The fundraising window closed on April 3, shortly before they announced the grand total of donations raised.
Epic’s fund raising campaign follows Humble Bundle – a firm that sells video game bundles online – raising $20 million for Ukraine relief efforts last month. Humble Bundle’s pay-what-you-want model for their game, book, and course bundles have raised more than $200 million through 12 million purchases. Their donations have benefitted charities such as Make a Wish, One Tree Planted, the ACLU, Girls Who Code, and Charity: Water.
Microsoft, the makers of Xbox, committed over $35 million to support humanitarian assistance and relief efforts for Ukraine. Microsoft is also matching employee donations by 2:1, resulting in more than $13.5 million raised to date in support of organizations working both within Ukraine and supporting refugees who have fled to neighboring countries.
From March 5 to March 12, League of Legends developer Riot Games donated all proceeds from battle pass sales for VALORANT, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift, as well as the new Bee skin line in League of Legends, will be donated to support humanitarian relief efforts in the region. They raised over $5.4 Million and in addition to the player supported fundraiser, donated $1M across three humanitarian nonprofits; International Medical Corps, Doctors Without Borders and Polish Red Cross.
