It looks like Fortnite has found a place for itself in the bad books of China, following recent government’s reforms geared toward protecting kids from games.
Fortnite China, known as Fortress Night in the Chinese translation, will no longer be available according to the game’s official website, The Gamer reports.
The version of Fortnite in China, which is quite different from what the rest of the world plays, and was only available via an authorized Chinese internet provider, had a notice on its website indicating it would soon be shut down.
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“The test of ‘Fortress Night’ has come to an end. We will shut down the server in the near future,” reads a Google translation of the website, the report said. Thus indicating that registration of new players and the download portal will be unavailable as of November 1 and the game will become inaccessible to existing players on November 15.
The Gamer said the news was shared by a reliable Fortnite source, iFireMonkey, who credited arkheops for spotting it. No other information about this has come to light as of yet and it’s unclear whether this has to do with China’s new restrictions against online gaming.
Since August, China has intensified the regulation of its game industry, allowing only under 18s to play games three hours a week, as concern over games impact on the society heightens. The new rule changes the previous rule which allows under 18 gamers to play 90 minutes a day. The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) said in a notice that children are allowed to play games between 8 p.m. and 9 P.m. on Fridays and during the weekends under the new rule.
Game companies have been at the receiving end of the reforms, with more than $60 billion in losses, led by Tencent, incurred so far. The regulations have thus narrowed game companies’ chances of surviving in China with restricted rules.
The Gamer reported on the differences between Fortnite China and the version the rest of the world plays, quoting information from Fortnite Wiki. There are no in-game transactions and several gameplay features have been incorporated in order to make it easier for less skilled players. You stop receiving XP after 90 minutes and cannot compete in challenges; a notification then prompts you to go and study. There are also many cosmetic changes, for instance, no skulls are depicted due to a regulation prohibiting it.
As part of the reforms, service providers like Tencent, Netease, and Mihoyo have been instructed to enforce real name registry, login information, and even facial recognition for young users to guarantee compliance with gaming curfews.
China’s gaming community has come under the weight of these restrictions, heightening concern over the future of the industry. Some have gone as far as saying that “PUBG esports may be over in China”.
To compound their woes, the Xi Jinping administration has put a halt on approvals for all online games after a meeting with Tencent Holdings and NetEase under the guise of curbing video game addiction, the Game reported, adding that they were told that their “solitary focus” on profit must cease and that all approvals for online games would be frozen until further notice. However, it’s almost been three months and China has approved a grand total of zero games since then.
Shutting down in China also means that Fortnite has a fresh issue to worry about, besides its fight with Apple. The iPhone maker had restricted Epic Games, Fortnite’s parent company, from using the Apple Store over Epic’s attempt to implement an alternative payment system in the Fortnite app, breaching its contract agreement with Apple.
I think the official version is that the suppression of gaming has to do with “protecting” youth. But the reality may be that activists had figured out how to organize through gaming.