Fortnite has taken the world by storm over the past two years and has amassed over 250 million players. It has become something of a cultural phenomenon and pretty much launched the battle royale craze. While gamers of all ages play Fortnite it has become immensely popular among kids. In a recent visit to a west London YMCA, Prince Harry had some not so nice words to say about Fortnite, calling it irresponsible, addicting, and damaging. He even went as far as to say “the game should not be allowed.” This is some pretty language from the European royalty, and begs the question, why would Prince Harry call for a ban on Fortnite?
Why is Prince Harry calling for a ban on Fortnite?
Prince Harry went on the attack against Fortnite because he believes that the creators, Epic Games, have acted irresponsibly. He says, “It’s created to addict…An addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It’s so irresponsible.” He later goes on to say that parents are in a hard spot because their kids are so addicted to the game, and they don’t know what to do about it.
Prince Harry worries that Fortnite is causing kids to disconnect from human connection, leaving them nowhere else to go except for online. He goes on to say, “The only place you might go is online and you will probably end up getting bullied.” It is quite obvious that Prince Harry is not as big of a fan of Fortnite its 250 million player base is, which is made up of a lot of younger gamers.
These comments from Prince Harry are just the latest addition to discussions about video games and mental health. There have been debates in the past year about games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2 encouraging gambling addictions and talks about the correlation between violent video games and mass shootings. These comments from Prince Harry are just the latest fuel to the fire on the war on video games and won’t be the last.
[Featured Image Source: Getty Images/Samir Hussein]
Fortnite Battle Royale Facts
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Fortnite Battle Royale Trivia
Here's what you didn't know about Fortnite Battle Royale! -
PUBG's creators have got beef with Epic.
PUBG creators Bluehole issued a press release stating they were unhappy with Fortnite devs Epic Games. Bluehole's Chang Ham Kim said that the company had compiled evidence of the similarities between the two games, saying that it would "contemplate further action." -
Fortnite is going to become an eSport.
eSports team TSM recently announced that they have a full competitive Fortnite team. This is another step towards Fortnite Battle Royale becoming a recognized eSport, with players soon able to duke it out for cash in a competitive setting. -
A LOT of people are playing it.
In January 2018 Fortnite passed 2 million concurrent players, and now has over 45 million players in total. -
It originally began as a co-op survival game.
Fortnite originally began as a sandbox co-op survival game, before Epic Games introduced a Battle Royale mode to it. This mode has gone on to be more popular than the base game. -
There's plenty more new modes to come.
Fortnite's Blitz mode is just one of many upcoming new modes for the game. Along with the previously debuted 50 vs 50 mode, a datemine revealed 'Faster Rings,' 'Lotsa Loot,' 'Rockets and Grenades,' 'Sneaky Silencers,' 'Snipers Only' and 'Take to the Skies.'