Fortnite recently announced its Chinese version of the game will officially shut down in November. The hugely popular online battle royale game saw an exclusive release in China that could only be downloaded and played through a Chinese internet provider. Additionally, the Chinese version of Fortnite lacks microtransactions and has different mechanics (likely due to government regulations) - instead, players can unlock premium currency by playing in lieu of using real money.
The Chinese government recently strengthened its regulations around gaming in an effort to reportedly combat gaming addiction. As of August, Chinese minors only have three hours per week allotted toward gaming (with one hour on holidays). In combination to other governmentally conducted efforts, these laws caused Chinese gaming industry companies' values to plummet, fostering concern around the future of gaming in China.
According to the official Chinese Fortnite website, the game's servers will shut down in November following a series of other closing measures. Players won't be able to register or download the game after November 1; and on November 15, Fortnite China servers will shut down entirely. After this latter date, logging into the game will be impossible - and Fortnite's Chinese version will be completely unplayable. The official announcement ended with a thank you to all of those who played the game, and a link to submit feedback.
The news was spread on Twitter by the user arkheops. The shutdown might not come as a surprise to some, seeing as Fortnite's availability in China was billed as a test in its closing announcement - which was revealed by the Twitter user's screenshot of Fornite's announcement translated to English using browser translation software. Some commenters speculated the shutdown has to do with China's recent regulations on gaming, however Fortnite China made no mention of any information that could corroborate these theories.
This might be the last time Fortnite makes a controversial name for itself in China, but it isn't the first. Fortnite faced a temporary ban in 2018 due to reportedly violating online ethical rules (these regulations also led to the ban of PUBG around the same time). However, if Fortnite China ceases to exist, the game won't come into conflict with laws or governmental efforts any longer. With China's crackdown on gaming, it's worth wondering whether other games will follow in Fortnite's wake.
Source: PCGamer, arkheops/Twitter