“Fortnite” China Shutting Down In November

Fortnite has failed in China. This comes after the official Fortnite China website announced that it will be closing down its servers for good on November 15th. The organization also revealed that it has stopped accepting new member registration as of November 1st.

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

According to PC Gamer, the version of Fortnite that was available in China was very different from the original. The publication said that Fortnite China matches were often shorter and allowed multiple players to claim a “Victory Royale” as long as they remained alive. Additionally, game mechanics were changed to make the title a more casual game.

The Profit‘s Take:

Nobody knows how successful Fortnite was in China, but I can guess not very based on this news. It’s weird that there was no reason given as to why this shutdown occurred. Rumors indicate that it has to do with the recent crackdown on gaming, but nothing has been officially confirmed. Maybe Tencent doesn’t have the pull we thought they have? Or maybe the relationship between Epic and Tencent is more contentious than we thought it was? There are a million conclusions we can draw from this news piece.

(All information was provided by Esports Bets and PC Gamer)