In China, the regional version of Fortnite will be closed — servers will be turned off on November 15

Fortnite is leaving China. The servers of the regional version of the battle royale will stop working in two weeks. Perhaps the closure is due to the lack of popularity of the game and changes in Chinese legislation.

This became known on October 31. First, the announcement appeared on the official website of the Chinese version of the game, and then an arkheops insider noticed it. According to their information, from November 1, registration of new players in Fortnite China will stop, and from November 15, the operation of servers will be completely stopped.

The reasons for the closure of the battle royale in China are not called. But users of the Resetera gaming forum suggested that Fortnite China was much less popular with Chinese players than PUBG or Free Fire.

In addition, the regional version of Fortnite is very different from the global one due to the strict requirements of the Chinese authorities for video games. For example, there are no microtransactions and loot boxes in Fortnite China, and matches last only 20 minutes — all players whose characters survived to the end of the round become winners in them.

Also, an indirect reason for the closure of the project’s servers could be the tightening of China’s policy regarding online games. In September, the authorities banned underage gamers from playing for more than three hours a week (for an hour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Because of this, teenagers could decide to spend their available hour a day not on Fortnite, but on the same PUBG.

Recall that Fortnite was released in China in April 2018. The promotion of the battle royale from Epic Games in the Middle Kingdom was handled by the industrial giant Tencent.