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Fornite China servers is shutting down on Nov 15
China's Fortnite players had a very different experience than their counterparts in the West. They were unable to purchase V Bucks in-game currency, and challenges are only available for 3 hours per day to discourage longer gaming sessions. However, on Nov. 15, Fortnite China's servers will be shut down, bringing the game's popularity to a halt.
The "Fortress Night" test is now complete. "In the near future, we will shut down the server," reads a brief statement on the game's website. On November 1, new players will no longer be able to sign up for Fortnite, which is known in China as Fortress Night. The server will be turned off on November 15th.
The closure of Fortnite China comes after a year-long crackdown on Big Tech in the country. Chinese authorities have fined Chinese tech giants billions of dollars, declared cryptocurrency services illegal, and enacted sweeping new data privacy regulations in the last year. Video games have taken a beating. Children are not allowed to play video games for more than 3 hours per week, and state media refer to them as "spiritual opium."
The reasons for the game's cancellation in China are unknown. Epic Games was contacted for comment by the media but did not respond right away. Fortnite was released in China in 2018, thanks to a collaboration between Epic Games and Tencent, a Chinese tech giant.
Even before the crackdown, Epic had to make significant changes to Fortnite in order for Chinese gamers to be able to play it. All skulls, for example, have been removed from the game in accordance with Chinese cultural norms.
The gameplay has also changed significantly: in the standard version, the last person standing wins. After 20 minutes in China, all surviving players are declared "winners." The message that players receive if they play for more than 180 minutes in a day is perhaps more noticeable:
"You have been playing for 3 hours, exp rate has dropped 50%, challenges disabled, for your health please take a rest immediately, please also arrange your studies/learning time."
