Fortnite addiction ‘behind 5% of UK divorces’ this year

Addiction to the hit video game Fortnite: Battle Royale has been cited as a factor in dozens of UK divorces this year, newly released figures show.

A report by UK-based legal service Divorce-Online claims that 200 of the 4,665 divorce petitions handled by the company so far this year mention “Fortnite and other online games” as a source of marital strife.

Divorce-Online is “one of the largest filers of divorce petitions in the UK”, so the figures are “a pretty good indicator” of the game’s effect on marriages, according to the company.

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“Addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling have often been cited as reasons for relationship breakdowns but the dawn of the digital revolution has introduced new addictions,” a spokesperson said.

“These now include online pornography, online gaming and social media, so it is no surprise to us that more and more people are having relationship problems because of our digital addictions.”

Fortnite: Battle Royale, released by Epic Games last September, is a multiplayer online (MMO) shooter that pits 100 players against each other in vast open worlds.

The game is available free of charge on most home consoles and PC, and has a global following. Although the title is popular among teens, half of the game’s 40 million monthly users are “fully employed adults”, Quartz reports.

Given that the World Health Organization now recognises excessive gaming as a mental health condition, it “isn’t too hard to imagine Fortnite causing strife in romantic relationships”, says CNet.

However, while Fortnite “obsession” may have been “the tipping point for these marriages”, the game is “unlikely to be the sole reason behind a divorce”, the London Evening Standard adds.