Fortnite’s Gen Z gamers feel socially cut off after Apple, Google remove app
- Apple and Google recently removed the game from their app stores for violating payment guidelines
- Fortnite, which has some 350 million players, has been a lifeline to the outside world for children trapped at home during the coronavirus pandemic
A YouTube alert interrupted Jack Erricker’s schoolwork on Friday morning as he and children all over the world woke up to the news that their favourite game, Fortnite, had been taken down from Apple’s app store and Google Play store.
“It’s basically the only game I play,” said Jack, an 11-year-old in Bangalore, India, who loves playing Fortnite on his Apple iPad. “I’m not happy, I don’t think it’s a good move.”
Unable to play outside, children are spending hours with friends chit-chatting and fighting on Fortnite, which is free to play and available on nearly all devices.
Apple and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Thursday removed Fornite from their app stores for violating in-app payment guidelines, and the news spread rapidly among kids who are otherwise too young to get headlines off CNN, the BBC or the New York Times.
Removal means no new players can download the game and the app will not receive updates from the store. But the game will continue to work for now for those who already have it.
