Communist China strikes again. This time, it’s the video game sector. China, well-known for it’s censoring of the video game industry, no longer wants the Chinese version of Fortnite available inside its borders. Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, will shut down the Chinese version of the game by November 15th.
Officially called Fortress Night, Epic Games launched this Chinese version back in 2018 and it’s been a success ever since. Epic paired with Shenzhen company, Tencent, in creating and marketing Fortress Night to China.
On November 1st, Epic Games disallowed new user signups. Epic isn’t giving a reason for the Fortress Night shutdown, but it isn’t difficult to read the tea leaves. Oddly, Fortress Night never left it’s “test mode” so it never truly launched in China. But Chinese gamers certainly enjoyed playing Fortress Night, while it lasted.
“The battle royale genre has been strictly regulated in China,” Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, tweeted. “The domestic games that are approved there have heavy content changes.”
The battle royale genre has been strictly regulated in China.
The domestic games that are approved there have heavy content changes. E.g. No blood / dead bodies / theme is ‘military training’ and not ‘last man standing etc…
PUBG PC wasn’t approved in China either.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 1, 2021
Basically, marketing and maintaining a video game in China is a big pain the ass. It is no secret that China maintains a rather iron-clad grip over the video game industry. In fact, this year, China laid down more video game regulations essentially doubling down on their previous stance. This latest regulation disallows anyone under 18 from playing video games for more than 3-hours per week. Imagine trying that move in the United States.
Even social media giants are suffering through China’s latest censorship agenda. LinkedIN is closing it’s Chinese version citing “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.”
China is an enormous consumer market, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to push away, or discourage, western technology companies from entering the space. With more and more big tech companies throwing up the white flag and exiting entirely, the Chinese technology landscape is sure to change – at least, business to consumer.
China also hates Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies, outside of their own. Clearly, it isn’t difficult to irritate the CCP.
Moral of the story: China doesn’t want western ideas, concepts, or technology infiltrating it’s people. And it intends to put up enough obstacles to cause western tech companies to pull out on their own.