Gaming giant Epic pulls back on Fortnite China over crackdown

China is increasingly isolating itself.

Still, Epic is bad.

Xi is switching back to the Maoist/North Korean model, using Covid Zero and a puritanical reboot of communism.

It will be interesting to see how everyone there responds to that.

@Henry

Since Fortnite is already just a knockoff of PUBG, I wouldn't be surprised if PUBG (or PUBG Mobile) got a big resurgance in China. As far as I am aware it is still perfectly playable there for casual play, they only limited the esports branch of things.

The government in China is the patriarch of the country. This is simply the authoritarian parent confiscating the video game and getting students to make better use of their time.

You like your kids to play sixteen hours a day in their rooms only to come out to use the bathroom or to open the refrigerator door?

This is no different than opium or Taima. It’s an addiction the government wants removed.

@ quercetum

Isn't that the role of the parents?

The government being the parents are all kinds of bad.

Since Fortnite is already just a knockoff of PUBG, I wouldn't be surprised if PUBG (or PUBG Mobile) got a big resurgance in China. 

Not likely. Baby Ping Ping has, by decree, forced all such companies to strictly limit access by minors to video gaming to a couple of hours per week. There is no gap for PUBG to fill. Gaming across the board has been cut to a fraction of what it was before his decree.