Help rebuild a clinic in Ukraine by playing Fortnite – such an initiative was launched by the Ukrainian government fundraising platform UNITED24, the group “Stand with Ukraine” and Havas Play, the video game division of the French advertising group, reports AFP.

Starting Wednesday, #TheDonationMap allows players to visit a map created especially for the occasion, called an in-game “island,” that features the Maidan, a square in the center of Kyiv.

Funds raised through player connections will then be used to rebuild a clinic in Mykolaiv, a large city in southern Ukraine.

According to initial data provided by Havas, #TheDonationMap attracted more than 3,000 players in 24 hours.

The extremely popular online game from the American giant Epic Games allows fans to create their own spaces and then invite other players to them. As of March 2023, it pays successful creators through a monetization program, redistributing some of the money raised in-game through costume sales.

The more players on the map and the more time they spend there, the bigger the payout. Those payouts range from $100 million to $10 million a year for some of the most popular creators, according to data released by Epic Games in May.

Many video game studios raised funds for humanitarian associations at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for example by donating profits from their sales.

For its part, #TheDonationMap claims to be the first initiative to allow players to contribute without paying a dime.

In 2022, Epic Games also pledged to donate $144 million to humanitarian aid in Ukraine, which is the entire profit of Fortnite in two weeks.

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