Fortnite is one of the most successful Battle Royale games of all time. It became so popular because Epic Games set out to make a mind-blowing game that is constantly changing. Over the years, its community has increased to unsurmountable levels. Eventually, Fortnite also reached a bunch of nations in a very modified manner.
This means Epic Games was adhering to its rules. The most prominent among these versions was Fortnite China, a game that ran for around three years and was closed by Epic Games in 2021. But during that short run, it became one of the most unusual versions of Fortnite, so much so that some fans would be blown away hearing their rules.
Fortnite China had some of the most unusual set of rules
China is pretty strict with its rules; they like it when things are done the way they want. A number of film studios and video game developers have made changes in their products to adhere to China’s rulebook.
One of the biggest examples of this is when the developers of Rainbow Six Siege had to change a bunch of things in their game. They had to remove skulls in the game; and also had to remove any hint of blood in their title. Gambling and blood references were also removed from Rainbow Six Siege.
But they somehow started bringing those changes to the international version of Rainbow Six Siege too, and fans were not very happy about it.
But Epic Games decided to do something completely different; they gave China its own version of Fortnite. This version followed pretty much every rule that China had ready for the Epic Games. The biggest rule was that China did not allow games to have microtransactions; that’s why Epic Games simply removed them. This allowed gamers to earn up to 600 VBucks every six days.
The other thing is this game’s winning conditions; players cannot just get in and win the game. Because of Communism, everyone who crosses the 20-minute mark in Fortnite automatically wins that game. This is the best example of a participation trophy one can find in a video game.
There’s also one rule that does not allow games to have skulls in any way. So Epic Games had to remove skins that had designs of skulls or skeletons in them. Some accessories that were shaped like a skull were turned into spheres.
The game was a moderate success in China, too. But Epic Games had to shut it down in 2021. They never gave a specific reason for its closure, but just removed new player-signups and shut it down. One cannot help but wonder if this game will ever be seen again in China. Given the competition, probably not, as now China is pretty crowded by a bunch of live service games that have a strong fan following.
On the other hand, the international version is thriving!
While Fortnite in China was not very long-lived, fans of the international version are continuously enjoying this game. New stuff comes to it every now and then. Recently, it entered Chapter 5 Season 2, and brought a bunch of new items and skins to players.
It looks like Fortnite will keep on climbing the heights of popularity, something it has continued to do in recent years.
