The Indonesian servers for Fortnite Battle Royale have been shut down. Epic Games failed to meet new requirements, so the video game has been prohibited.
This is the second country, after China, to ban the famous video game. Chinese gamers lost access to their accounts and progress after the server was shut down in late 2021.
These days, a comparable crisis is taking place in Indonesia. But on the plus side, there is still hope that Fortnite will be rereleased in the country. It hasn’t been banned for good, but Epic Games needs to make significant adjustments before it can be rereleased.
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Due to regulatory changes, Fortnite is no longer accessible in Indonesia.
Technology firms in Indonesia were encouraged earlier this year to get licensed. According to these guidelines, authorities may delete any content they find illegal or offensive.
Although these are municipal regulations, they are binding on domestic and international businesses. We regret to inform you that Epic Games’ refusal to cooperate has resulted in removing Fortnite from the country’s app stores.
Some businesses doubted that the Indonesian government would prohibit their services. Unfortunately, that is what transpired, and Epic must now figure out how to bring their wildly successful video game back online.
Population-wise, at over 275 million, Indonesia is the fourth-largest country on Earth and a significant market for consumer electronics. Although the precise number of Fortnite players is unknown, it’s safe to assume that it’s well over 10 million.
Several businesses allegedly not in compliance with the new restrictions have already been contacted, according to reports from Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It remains to be seen how Epic Games responds, but given the size of the Asian market, it seems likely that the company will abide by the new regulations.
Additional premium services have also been restricted.
The new regulation is bad news for many, not just Fortnite players. Fall Guys, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike are just a few of the many well-liked games that have been banned.
The removal of Steam, which hosted more than 50,000 titles, was also a significant blow to the gaming community. Even Steam’s rival, Epic Games Store, has closed down.
The government has banned Yahoo as a search engine and even PayPal. Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon were among the companies that registered in the final days before the registration deadline and avoided having their platforms shut down by the Indonesian government.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized this law as “intrusive of human rights” and “perhaps the most restrictive regulation yet.”
It is improbable that Epic Games or any other tech behemoth would be able to evade these requirements, but they will apply to every tech company that operates in the country.
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