Epic Games, Xbox team up to Support Humanitarian Relief for Ukraine

Epic Games has announced today that 100% of its Fortnite proceeds from March 20, 2022 to April 3, 2022 will be committed to humanitarian relief for people affected by the war in Ukraine. Xbox is also joining Epic in this effort by committing their net proceeds for Fortnite during this time, so that the people of Ukraine can get more aid.

Epic also shared a detailed FAQ on their efforts:

HOW QUICKLY IS EPIC SENDING FUNDS TO THE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS?

As quickly as we can. We’re not waiting for the actual funds to come in from our platform and payment partners, which can take a while depending on how the transaction was processed. As transactions are reported, we’ll log them and send the funds to the humanitarian relief organizations within days.

WHAT PURCHASES COUNT TOWARDS SUPPORTING PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE WAR IN UKRAINE?

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.

Using V-Bucks in Fortnite will not be included as those are not real-money purchases.

100% of Epic’s Fortnite proceeds is equal to the gross purchase price of all Fortnite in-game purchases or retail purchase redemptions transacted between March 20, 2022 and April 3, 2022 from sales throughout the world, excluding taxes, third-party platform fees, refunds, returns, or reversals.

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.

I’M A FORTNITE CREW MEMBER, DOES MY SUBSCRIPTION GET INCLUDED IN THE PROCEEDS?

Funds from existing or re-activated Fortnite Crew subscription renewals processed between March 20, 2022 through April 3, 2022 will be included. Any new Fortnite Crew subscription sign-ups between March 20, 2022 through April 3, 2022 will also count towards relief funds.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT MY EARNINGS IF I’M IN THE SUPPORT-A-CREATOR PROGRAM?

It won’t! This program doesn’t alter Creator earnings. 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.

I’M IN THE SUPPORT-A-CREATOR PROGRAM. CAN EPIC DISTRIBUTE MY AFFILIATE EARNINGS TO RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS FOR ME?

If you’d like to contribute your Support-A-Creator earnings to support humanitarian relief for people affected by the war in Ukraine we suggest you partner directly with your preferred organization. There are lots of great ones to choose from.

EPIC IS DISTRIBUTING PROCEEDS TO HUMANITARIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS, DOES THAT MEAN I CAN CLAIM A CREDIT ON MY TAXES?

Purchases made in Fortnite between March 20, 2022 and April 3, 2022 won’t be considered tax deductible donations for players. If you have more questions about this, we recommend contacting a tax professional in your country for assistance.

I’M A BIG FAN OF ONE OF THE RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS LISTED, CAN I CHOOSE WHICH ORGANIZATION THE FUNDS FROM MY PURCHASE ARE SENT TO?

Not as part of this program.

CAN I “OPT OUT” IF I DON’T WANT MY FORTNITE PURCHASE TO GO TOWARDS HUMANITARIAN RELIEF?

All of Epic’s Fortnite proceeds earned in the window will be distributed to support humanitarian relief. If you’d like to avoid Epic including the funds from your purchase, please hold off buying anything with real money in Fortnite until April 4, 2022 or later.

You can read Epic's official blog here.