The Epic studio is mobilizing its very lucrative Fortnite for the benefit of Ukraine. For two weeks, all profits from the game will go to benefit the population.
If you’ve always held back with four irons at the thought of spending even the smallest euro on Fortnite, because you are unfavorable to its business model, it may be time to make an exception. Over the next two weeks, all the money raised from the game will not go into the studio’s pocket, but for the benefit of Ukraine.
This is what Epic has just announced on March 20, 2022. From this date until April 3, the profits generated by Fortnite will be donated in full to four humanitarian organizations (and later, to others): Direct Relief, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Food Program and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
For those who do not know the video game industry well, it can be difficult not to measure the extent of this financial commitment. It is however considerable, because Fortnite has long since exceeded its status as a video game to become a real generational phenomenon (we sometimes broadcast films or concerts in the middle of a video game).
A “free to play” model that works very well
Fortnite is a game that is basically free, but which pays off very well: it is based on a well-known economic model, “free to play”. This revolves around free access to the title, but which is offset by the possibility of making lots of in-game micro-purchases to acquire costumes, dances, reactions or various items to have fun and shine. with his comrades.
And we can say that it works: in 2018 and 2019, the game generated $ 9 billion in gross revenue, according to documents that were made public during the lawsuit between Epic and Apple. All thanks to the mini-transactions that take place every day in the game. What if Fortnite is not the only one to opt for the “free to play” model, it really is in a category of its own.
In detail, Epic’s operation covers all real-money purchases made in Fortnite : V-bucks packs, Club packs Fortnite, battle passes received as gifts and cosmetic packs purchased with real money. Physical store purchases of in-game cosmetics and V-bucks cards will be included if redeemed during this time.
It is obviously impossible to guess in advance what Epic’s donation will represent at the end of these two weeks. But based on the amount mentioned above, it is reasonable to think that the studio will pay to the rescue tens of millions of dollars in revenue — and maybe even a few hundred million dollars.
The studio announcement was praised on Twitter by Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian minister in charge of digital. ” Thank you all for your support and help! Ukraine will remember your contribution to our victory “, he wrote. Since the start of the conflict, the person concerned has been very active on social networks to seek support from tech companies.
Since the beginning of the conflict, several other companies have announced similar initiatives. Among the major studios, there was notably a donation from CD Projekt Red (The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077) of a few hundred thousand euros. The company, based in Poland, also has additional provisions, but this time against Russia, by suspending its activities.
