Fortnite is a huge game, been around since 2017, but it might not be here together. This week, some players are asking is Fortnite getting banned and maybe getting worried about if their favorite game is sticking around. Why though? It seems to be spurred on by the recent problems with TikTok and ByteDance. Some are worried that ownership in Epic could cause problems for Fortnite too, although it doesn’t look very likely right now.
Even with the changes to foreign ownership laws in the US, it’s really quite unlikely that Fortnite is getting banned. However, it isn’t as crazy of an idea as it might sound. The TikTok user base is definitely bigger than the Fortnite player count, and that app managed to be taken offline. However, with Epic having a much different situation in its ownership and the law change turning out to not particularly matter, is Fortnite getting banned or is it safe?
Source: Epic
Is Fortnite Getting Banned?
The big question might be is Fortnite getting banned? Recently, changes in laws in some countries have led to TikTok going offline there, before coming back online pretty quickly. That’s because of its ownership. US lawmakers decided to go after TikTok specifically for being foreign-owned, it took a long time though, and then didn’t really amount to much. Since Epic Games is partially owned by Tencent, some players are worried the law could eventually effect Fortnite too.
Is Fortnite getting banned because of this law change? Probably not. So far it looks like Epic isn’t under fire in the same way as TikTok. Tencent’s stake in Epic is relatively minor, and their Unreal Engine powers most of the gaming industry right now. It is extremely unlikely that Fortnite is getting banned because of this, their ownership doesn’t even break the conditions being put on ByteDance, which themselves aren’t even being enforced. Essentially, it looks like we’ll get more Fortnite seasons for a few years to come.
Fortnite is almost definitely not getting banned. It probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The laws affecting some apps at the moment don’t apply to Fortnite. Beyond that, it doesn’t seem these laws are going to have much of an impact at all. Their scope so far seems limited to taking TikTok offline for about an hour, not actually because of the law but as a precaution by its publishers. With the law being moved around to find a resolution, players don’t have anything to worry about.