Players in China have been unable to download Fortnite (called “Fortress Night” in China) or create accounts as of 11pm last night. Epic Games and Tencent have put out a press release that operations of the popular online Battle Royale video game will cease and servers will shutdown on 15 November. Machine translation of the statement released in China says:

To Fortnite China players:

Fortnite China’s Beta test will be ending, and the servers will be closed soon. For details, please see below:

On Monday, November 1 at 11 am, we will close the new user registration entrance and game download portal;

On Monday, November 15 at 11 am, we will turn off servers for Fortnite, and players will no longer be able to connect to the game through the WeGame client.

Thank you to all the Fortnite China players who have ridden the Battle Bus with us by participating in the Beta.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the servers closing, please click here to send us feedback.

The website did not state the reasons why but industry insiders and observers got a list of reasons why.

One of the main reasons for ending the operations in the country is that it monetization is not viable for the Epic Games given the strict regulations imposed by the communist government. Tencent owns a stake in Epic Games.

Fortnite was introduced in China in 2018 but due to changing regulations imposed by authorities, Fortnite was further localized and did not allow for microtransactions. Microtransactions make free-to-play games financially viable. Other changes are cosmetic such as the changing of skins as well as making the game less violent.

Others point out the latest regulation imposed by the authorities that limits playtime for under 18s, which was already previously restricted to 1.5 hours per day, and is now down to 3 hours per week and limited to 1 hour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Authorities cite video game addiction amongst China’s youth as the main reason for the new rules.

The time limits imposed will make hard for players to progress through the game according to online gaming experts and will prove frustrating to players.

With such a development, Fortnite players in China are petitioning Epic Games to transfer their game data to servers outside of the country and if not possible to preserve featured skins on Fortnite:

Perhaps they are looking into being access the game by connecting to servers overseas. They will have to find ways to go around the Great Firewall of China to do that via VPN or other means they can use to connect undetected by the authorities.

One thing’s for sure --- online video games would not be financially rewarding in China now.