Fortnite Battle Royale is not shutting down as a result of a lawsuit despite the rumors that suggested the huge game is already coming to an end.
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With how popular Fortnite has become, what better way to spread panic throughout the gaming community than to start a rumor that the game is being shut down? It appears that that’s what someone intended to do when they created a fake tweet from the official Fortnite Twitter account that “announced” the end of Fortnite. The tweet that was supposedly an official message from Epic Games about the future about Fortnite said that the shutdown was coming as a result of a “law suit” battle with fellow battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
The tweet that was shared online can be seen below along with some obvious errors that made the tweet seem so suspicious.
The Shutdown Tweet
“Due to the law suit against PubG on copyright infringement. We are sorry to inform you that Fortnite Battle Royale Will be coming to an end May 24, 2018,” the tweet said. “Save the world will still be in development and we will roll out ASAP. Thank you all for the support.”
Just from looking at the tweet, there are more than a few problems with the message that would make many suspicious of the announcement. Aside from the obvious “law suit” typo and other errors, it doesn’t make any sense why a lawsuit against PUBG would result in Fortnite being shut down. Keeping Save the World in development seems like the most believable part of the message, but it’s pretty unclear what “we will roll out ASAP” is supposed to mean here.
Though the tweet was circulated online and caused many a scare, Epic Games apparently didn’t get the message that their hit game was shutting down judging from the game’s Twitter account.
No, Fortnite Isn’t Shutting Down
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
The suspect tweet supposedly came from the Fortnite Twitter account on April 10, but if you look through the actual account, there’s no such tweet included in the many that come from Epic Game each day. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Epic Games has continued to provide players with info about upcoming changes and other features. Just a day after the announcement was supposedly tweeted, Fortnite tweeted news about the v3.5 update that’s now available.
No mention of the tweet has been spotted from Epic Games through the official Twitter account or other means of communication, but that didn’t stop those online from getting worked up about the idea of Fortnite shutting down.
Fortnite Players Panic
Like most do, people took to Twitter soon after the rumor started to either confirm or deny it while voicing their own opinions on the shutdown scenario. As expected, a bunch of Fortnite players weren’t happy to hear the news and were understandably skeptical, but others who don’t appear to play Fortnite weren’t quite as disappointed by the news. Girlfriends and boyfriends being stolen away by Fortnite has become a running joke now that’s probably got some truth to it, and some said that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if Fortnite shut down.
Is it true that fortnite will be shutting down may 24th???!!!!
— Lucas Spam (@SpamLucas) April 12, 2018
Wait is Fortnite actually shutting down after May or it just a rumour i’m so confused
— isabelle (@isabelleox_) April 12, 2018
Why does everything think that @FortniteGame is shutting down? It’s literally not on their twitter anywhere ??♂️??♂️??♂️
— Harry Cutting (@hxz80) April 12, 2018
Fortnite servers are shutting down which means you will all get your boyfriends/girlfriends back + everyone back to CoD.
— Cozels (@cozels) April 12, 2018
Aside from people seeing the rumor and retweeting it or spreading it on without questioning it, there is one possible reason why so many may have believe the rumor that stems from an actual lawsuit filed by PUBG Corp, though the lawsuit wasn’t aimed at Fortnite.
PUBG Corp Did File a Lawsuit, Just Not Against Fortnite
A few days before the tweet was dated for April 10, it was announced that PUBG Corp was filing suit against the company responsible for two games that borrow heavily from PUBG.
Rules of Survival and Knives Out are two games that are published by NetEase, and both of them bear striking resemblance to PUBG. PUBG Corp filed a lawsuit against the publisher for copyright infringement while mentioning in the official complaint that PUBG has and will continue to “suffer irreparable harm” as a result of the games’ infringements.
“PUBG has suffered irreparable harm as a result of Defendants’ infringing activities and will continue to suffer irreparable harm in the future unless Defendants are enjoined from their infringing conduct,” the lawsuit reads.
The complaint can be read here, and though Epic Games and Fortnite aren’t mentioned, it does provide somewhat of a basis for a rumor to appear about Fortnite being shut down. That’s not happening though, so Fortnite players can continue going after those Victory Royales.
