Fortnite Shuts Down In China

China has been experiencing a crackdown on gaming recently. While the gaming time has been limited for gamers and especially children, some Chinese developers, studios, and companies associated with gaming, such as NetEase and Tencent, have been actively looking for options outside China to sustain themselves in the future. Amid this crackdown, Epic Games’ Fortnite has also been affected.

Fortnite was launched in China in 2018 as Fortress Night, through a partnership between Epic Games and Tencent. Around 10 million people pre-registered for the game. However, it did not really have a proper launch in China but was accessible in test mode. This excluded some features of the app, such as in-app purchases.

Now, Epic Games is shutting down Fortnite servers in China, ending a three-year period, in which it was not able to make any money. From the beginning of November, users were not able to register new accounts, and from today, the servers are unavailable.

To add clarity, Fortnite never officially launched in China

The game has been undergoing testing for the past 2+ years and does not include IAP

This is because the game was never approved by the govt and therefore could not officially launch + monetise. Hence the shut down now. https://t.co/oj1Wx6JsM3

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 1, 2021

So ultimately when Epic and Tencent decided to bring Fortnite to China they had a licensing agreement for x years and it's clear that the cost of changes / operating the game / extending the license does not make sense anymore, given there is no approval for it at this point.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 1, 2021

Western Games Censorship

China has been tightening its grip on games. Companies have to undergo a very strict approval process from the government before releasing a game. Moreover, Western games often get censorship heavily. This year, the restrictions are even tighter.

Western companies shutting down operations in China is not new. Before Epic pulled out, Microsoft’s social network platform LinkedIn had shut down its local version in China, owing to a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.”

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