Fortnite on iOS and Google Play to Become 18+ from January 30

Epic Games has announced that the v13.40 version of Fortnite on iOS and Google Play will become inaccessible to players under 18 from January 30, 2023.

Since Fortnite was removed from the iOS, macOS and Google Play app stores in August 2020, the game has remained playable on version 13.40 (Chapter 2 Season 3). This is because Apple and Google blocked Epic's ability to update the application, which resulted in it becoming ten in-game Seasons behind the current version of the game.

Epic has explained the reasoning behind blocking v13.40 for children, saying, "we want all versions of our games to use the current suite of Epic Online Services including parental controls, purchasing defaults, and parental verification features. We are not able to update the app on these platforms given Apple and Google’s restrictions on Fortnite". Epic Games was recently fined over $500M for past Fortnite designs and privacy concerns, which have since been addressed in updates. Since Fortnite on iOS and Google Play devices can't receive updates, these issues cannot be fixed so blocking access for anyone under 18 was Epic's only option. Since the "dark patterns" the FTC claims Epic uses to trick players into purchasing unwanted cosmetics cannot be updated, the ability to spend V-Bucks has also been disabled in v13.40.

We'll keep you updated.

Source: Fortnite Status

In other news, Fortnite has announced The Kid LAROI's Wild Dreams concert. Click here to read more.

Fortnite on iOS and Google Play to Become 18+ from January 30

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