Fortnite and Epic Games get banned in Indonesia over censorship concerns

Fortnite and Epic games have been banned in Indonesia.

Fortnite and Epic Games are among the biggest, if not the biggest gaming entities in the industry. If they’re getting banned, you know it’s a major story. Yet, is it for a reason that makes sense? That’s always the question when a game gets hit with the band-hammer.

We’ve seen games getting banned before, but it’s usually for their ultra-violence gameplay. For instance, when New Zealand banned Manhunt. That game was banned from the Pacific-island nation due to the game’s extreme violence.

So, is Fortnite like, super violent? I mean, not really. Not unless you consider Bugs Bunny and company being on par with Rockstar Games’ most violent foray into video games. Fortnite is silly-violent. Pie in the face, exploding whoopie cushion that sends you into space, stupid violent. Slapstick, if you will.

So why did Indonesia ban Fortnite?

Indonesia bans Fortnite over censorship concerns

According to Reuters, Indonesia has banned all things Epic Games for failing to comply with the country’s new licensing rules. The new rules require any platform to allow the nation’s government oversight on what can and can’t be distributed in the country.

This way they can ban, block, or take down any content they feel is unlawful, or harmful to the public. Epic wasn’t the only property hit. Yahoo, PayPal, Steam, Dota2, and Counter-Strike (among others) were smacked down with the band-hammer for not complying with the government’s new censorship laws.

This has not gone over well in the country, especially with PayPal, as many in the country use the service for their freelance work. Fortnite and Epic Game players in the country even started tweeting about this, causing it to trend for Indonesian Twitter users.

Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, a senior official with the Indonesia Communication Ministry, has made it clear that they intend on finding a solution to helping people withdraw deposits from PayPal.

Though that seems like a short-term fix.