In Fortnite New Year was celebrated. However, Americans found that it started way too early, suggesting Epic must have made a mistake. The staff then explained the concept of “time zone” somewhat incredulously.
This is how Epic celebrated New Year’s Eve: From early morning US time on December 31, every hour in the world of Fortnite: Battle Royale a huge disco ball was dropped from the sky accompanied by all sorts of extravagant fireworks.
They lit a Boogie Bomb, forcing everyone to dance. The spectacle was impossible to miss.
In addition to the event, there were also special items in the shop and a special quest for the ongoing event.
Here was the problem: Fortnite is an international game and the event started as soon as it was January 1 somewhere in the world. From a US perspective, it was still very early on December 31.
Apparently, some Fortnite players couldn’t handle this at all. They shouted “Leak, Leak” or laughed at Epic for apparently not being able to wait until midnight.
So writes FazeThiefs at 11 AM our time, which is late at night in the USA: “Already a New Year’s event? Then happy early New Year, I guess. Lmaooo”
As BusinessInsider reports, this was not the only case; many players went on social media to announce that the “New Year” event of Fortnite had started too early.
This is how Epic reacted: The co-founder and vice president of Epic tweeted: “Do you really not understand what time zones are, or do you think yours is the only time zone in the world?”
Epic PR staff member Nick Chester is also somewhat amused: “I woke up this morning and learned that many Fortnite players don’t understand the concept of time zones. We are also a game with an educational mission.
Happy New Year, if you are already in 2019!”
What’s behind this: On reddit, the incident is being discussed: It is said, “Some Americans do not understand that there are places outside the USA.”
We in Germany and most others are used to the concept of time zones, as much of what is important to us happens according to US time, and we have adjusted to this over the years.
Clearly, this is not so widespread among Americans.
