While in every possible way Fortnite appears to be that brand of video games that brings friends and family closer together, delighting in some shared gaming fun, that might not be the case. You might expect some damaged controllers or TVs from a last-second loss in the game, but one study indicates the game is breaking up marriages.
According to a Divorce Online press release, at least 200 ex-spouses in the U.K. have cited Fortnite as a primary reason for their divorce. To put that into perspective, Divorce Online has received 4,665 divorce petitions in 2018. If 200 ex-spouses referenced Fortnite as a cause, that means the game could be at least partially blamed for 5% of the total divorces in the U.K. this year.
That’s pretty substantial! The game has skyrocketed into an obsession for many, but a Divorce Online spokesperson said “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.
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“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.”
This summer we saw professional gamer FaZe Censor break up with his girlfriend of three years Yanet Garcia, a.k.a. the “World’s Sexiest Weathergirl,” in order to re-dedicate himself to Call of Duty. So maybe you can’t have both gaming and love in your life? Or perhaps people need to learn how to better balance their digital lives with their corporeal ones, but that’s a discussion for another day when we don’t have Fornite to play.
