The official site for Fortnite China has announced that the game's service in the country will end on Nov. 15.
The game's closure hasn't been given a specific reason, but it's thought to be related to the country's stricter gaming regulations for children.
The game was first released in China in 2018, in collaboration with Tencent, a Chinese tech giant. For regulatory and cultural reasons, many Western games must be significantly altered for the Chinese market.
Fortress Night differs from the original Fortnite in a number of ways, including measures to limit the amount of time players spend on the game and the lack of "microtransactions" to purchase extra in-game items with real money.
China's video game regulator announced in August that under-18s would be limited to one hour of online gaming on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.
The government has long been concerned about the amount of time children spend playing video games. Earlier this year, for example, a state media outlet referred to online games as "spiritual opium."
Fortnite was highly anticipated in mainland China, despite the fact that it took nearly a year to arrive. Hugely popular games from other countries rarely make it to the United States.
China's strict regulators have imposed lengthy terms and conditions that prevent games from being released if they are deemed too violent, pornographic, or portray China in a negative light.
Many modern video games are not on a "blacklist," but lengthy regulatory checks mean that many international games are stuck in a years-long queue to be approved.
To begin, game developers must establish contracts with local Chinese businesses in order for their games to be recognized. They are then deployed on separate Chinese servers.
This means that mainland users can play with one another but cannot interact with international players.
For a time, Fortnite held a unique position in the Chinese market: it was a foreign game that had overcome all of these obstacles while still being relatively new.
"Thank you to all the Fortnite China players who have ridden the Battle Bus with us by participating in the Beta," Epic wrote in its announcement.
It is no longer possible to create new accounts in Fortnite China as of writing. Users won't be able to log in after Nov. 15.
