Fortnite is Not Shutting Down Despite Rumors

By Nicholas Barth ·

One fake tweet that was made to come from the official Twitter account for Fortnite began the scare of the popular battle royale game shutting down its operation.

Fortnite is Not Shutting Down Despite Rumors

Fortnite Battle Royale has quickly become the most popular game in the world at the moment, as it has become a cultural phenomenon that can be found in almost every corner of society. From celebrities betting thousands of dollars with streamers to win games to schools posting warnings about the game because students are playing it so much, you can find a mention of the battle royale title almost anywhere. 

Unfortunately, a rumor that was meant to cause panic in the gaming community concering the insanely popular title surfaced its ugly head. A very suspicious tweet that was made to look like it had come from the official Twitter account for Fortnite announced that the battle royale version of the popular game would be shutting down, due to a lawsuit with the developers of Player Unknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG) citing copyright infringement. 

The tweet in question that began the shutdown rumors for Fortnite Battle Royale. (Source Comic
The tweet in question that began the shutdown rumors for Fortnite Battle Royale. (Source: Comicbook/wwg)

While the tweet did began a scare in the community, many flaws pointed to the announcement being of a fake nature. From the "Law Suit" typo to the misspelling of "PubG", many signs pointed to the message not being made by a professional social media manager for one of the largest studios in the industry, along with how it would make no sense that a lawsuit against PUBG for copyright infringement would result in the shutdown of Fortnite Battle Royale. 

However, combing through the tweets sent out from the official Twitter account on the day that this suspicious tweet was supposedly made, April 10th, you will not find any proof that points to the message being made by Epic Games. Not to mention that the day after the fake announcement was supposedly tweeted, Epic Games posted news regarding the v3.5 update that since been made live, which points to the complete opposite of the game heading towards a complete shutdown. 

Downtime has started for the v3.5 update. What's packed inside? Dive into this weeks patch notes to find out! https://t.co/sWSpe62JAv

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 11, 2018
One part of the tweet that did lend itself to some standing in reality was the mentioning of a lawsuit that involved PUBG. However, this lawsuit has nothing to do with Epic Games and Fortnite Battle Royale. PUBG Coporation had filed a lawsuit against the company NetEase for copyright infringement regarding two of its titles that bear a heavy resemblance to Player Unknown's battle royale title in Rules of Survival and Knives Out. It looks as though the creator of the Fortnite shutdown tweet took advantage of an actual lawsuit from the developers of PUBG in order to help strengthen their rumor. 
Even with the scare, players have nothing to fear, as there is no factual evidence that points to their favorite game going anywhere for the forseeable future.

(cover photo courtesy of Epic Games)