Video Gamers Doing a World of Good: Fortnite Raised $144 Million for Ukraine Relief

Who says video games are a waste of time?

Game developers are raising money for Ukrainians both inside and outside of the besieged company, with donations rivaling the grants from the U.S. government.

Ahead of the release of their new gaming season, Fortnite developers Epic Games announced that all the proceeds would go to a variety of organizations providing aid and relief to Ukraine—and in the first day they raised $36 million, growing to $144 million in two weeks.

Epic has said that the money will go to Direct Relief, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Program.

Gamers and the video game industry are renowned for being extraordinarily generous, and other game companies are also pitching in millions.

Microsoft (the creators of the Xbox); League of Legends developer Riot Games; and the Humble Bundle, a company that organizes themed collections of various games at a discount price to help charities, have all announced donations. Net proceeds of those recent sales—totaling more than $26 million—will also go toward Ukrainian relief.

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—benefitting charities such as Make a Wish, One Tree Planted, the ACLU, Girls Who Code, and Charity: Water.

Notably, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s record donation belongs to Blizzard Entertainment, makers of World of Warcraft. Sales generated within their Overwatch game, where a premium in-game cosmetic item was available for purchase, reached $12.7 million and was dedicated to the Foundation, becoming the largest single donation the charity had ever seen.