The Chinese version of the massively popular battle royale/ pop culture crossover platform Fortnite will close down on November 15th.
A special version of Fortnite, designed with China’s specific gaming regulations and run with gaming giant Tencent, is being brought to a close. Registration for new players is no longer available, and the game will permanently shut down in China in the middle of this month.
The launch of Fortnite in China was billed as a “test” by Epic Games, and this test to see how Epic and Chinese game regulations could interact is set to close in two weeks’ time.
Among the changes Tencent made to Fortnite for the Chinese market are a complete absence of microtransactions, as well as diminished violent imagery (no skulls or blood visible in the game).
Epic pulling the plug on this version of Fortnite is likely a cost-saving choice, as Fortnite still isn’t formally approved by the government. The prohibitive costs of maintaining, updating, and extending the game’s license would likely be harder to recoup without microtransactions or official approval.
While Fortnite’s foray into the Chinese market wasn’t the jackpot its developers hoped for, many in the games industry still see untapped riches in the Chinese market. The PS5 and Steam recently launched in China, abiding to the Chinese government’s rules and regulations. How, if ever, other massively popular games in the rest of the world adapt to the Chinese market remains to be seen.
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