“Thank you to everyone who boarded the bus and participated in the Fortnite test!” Epic Games told Chinese Fortnite players. That means that the Chinese version of Fortnite never made a cent during its three-year lifespan, even as the game brought in $5.1 billion in global revenue in 2020 alone. When Epic launched the Chinese version of Fortnite 2018, the company hoped it would eventually get a government nod that never came.
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Since Fortnite is free to play, the vast majority of its revenue comes from selling in-game items to players, including pricey virtual outfits from luxury brands like Balenciaga. Chinese state media has called video games “spiritual opium.” NurPhoto via Getty Imagesīut Epic’s troubles in China began long before this year’s gaming crackdown. “Friends who have played with me, we’ll meet again if fate decrees,” wrote another pensive gamer, according to the outlet. One Chinese Fortnite player, a 24-year-old named Zheng, told AFP he would “first cry for a little” after having spent more than two years playing the game. In August, the government began barring minors from playing video games on school days and allowing just three hours of play during pre-determined hours on the weekends.
The shutdown, which the North Carolina-based developer said it completed on Monday, comes as the Chinese government seeks to restrict what one state media outlet called the “spiritual opium” of online gaming.
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