Fortnite closing down in China

A translated post on Fortnite‘s website announces that the test “has come to an end” and Epic Games will be shutting down Chinese Fortnite servers on Monday November 15th 2021. From this date, gamers will no longer be able to sign up or download Fortnite and existing users will be unable to log in.

“Thank you for everyone who boarded the bus and participated in the ‘Fortnite’ test!” the post reads.

Epic hasn’t commented on why it will be shutting down the Chinese version of the game but the move comes four months after the Chinese government cracked-down on the amount of time children are allowed to play for. Since August, kids under the age of 18 can only play video games three hours per week.

This is the latest in a wave of restrictions that China has placed on children’s gaming. In 2019, the government banned kids from gaming between the hours of 10pm and 8am. Tencent, who owns 40 per cent of Epic Games, even made a facial recognition system to catch kids gaming after curfew.

The game made available to the Chinese audience differs heavily from the Fortnite we know in the West. There are thought to be strict rules on V-Bucks, a 90-minute timer that reminds kids to go study and caps XP. There’s even cosmetic changes as it’s illegal to depict skulls in China, so outfits such as the Skull Trooper don’t exist.