No More Fortnite for Chinese Gamers

The computer game Fortnite, which has millions of players worldwide, is withdrawing from China. Publisher Epic Games announced that.

The communist regime in China is becoming increasingly strict about competition and privacy. Several large companies in the digital sector were recently able to experience this, and the games sector was not spared either.

The industry has a significant turnover in China, but the games are under fire for being addictive. In August, for example, the regime imposed a three-hour gaming limit on under 18-year-olds.

In that context, the American publisher of Fortnite is now definitively pulling the plug on the Chinese version of the game. “On November 15, at 11 a.m., we will shut down the game servers and players in China will no longer be able to log in,” Epic Games wrote in a press release on Sunday.

Since Monday, Fortnite no longer accepts players in China, says Epic Games, which includes the Chinese internet giant Tencent as a shareholder.

Fortnite is one of the most popular games in the world. It has more than 350 million users. That is more than the population of the United States. The game has a specific version in China that controls violent, obscene and politically sensitive content.