Rumours that popular video game Fortnite is shutting down has gamers freaking out after a fake tweet began circulating online.
One of the most popular video games in the world since its debut in 2017, Fortnite is a free-to-play battle game that has 100 players fight to be the last one standing.
It’s one of Epic Games’ biggest money earners, with the multi-award winning franchise bringing in a total revenue of $6 billion (A$9.4 billion) in 2022 and 230 million active users monthly.
A fake tweet posing as the game’s official X account has been circulating many social media platforms.
“We hereby confirm the end of our legendary game Fortnite, we will soon permanently shut down the servers, it is still playable but there will be no more updates,” the tweet reads.
“We thank all players and take support of this project. The bus driver will take his last route in early 2024.”
There has been no acknowledgment from Epic Games but this hasn’t stopped gamers from panicking.
“I’ve spent [so much] money on Fortnite,” one TikToker commented.
“I’m gonna miss the game [as] me and my mates played it a lot back in season 1, so much fun. Now it’s going I’m going to miss Fortnite [for real] me [and] my mates will cry,” another wrote.
The majority of gamers however called it a hoax — pointing out Epic Games would never shut down a game that earn them millions of dollars.
“When did Fortnite say they were shutting down? They even announced they would be doing more [live events], even a concert?” one person tweeted.
“[Epic Games] won’t do that, they have a lot of players still and make a bunch of money still,” another commented.
This rumour may have sparked from the fact that Epic Games laid off around 860 employees recently, with CEO Tim Sweeney citing financial reasons.
“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn,” Sweeney announced in an email to Epic employees.
“I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without lay-offs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.
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“While Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion.”
Another possible reason for the fake tweet comes after the company’s chief creative officer Donald Mustard tweeted that he was retiring from the role at the end of September.
Mustard’s role saw him interacting with the Fortnite community and he had often left teasers about new additions to the game in his tweets.
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