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Report: Fortnite to blame in over 200 UK divorces this year

"It is no surprise to us that more and more people are having relationship problems because of our digital addictions"

Report: Fortnite to blame in over 200 UK divorces this year

More than 200 couples have filed for divorce in the UK citing playing battle royale title Fortnite since January 1st 2018.

That's according to research by website Divorce-Online, which says that five per cent of the 4,665 petitions received since the start of the year have mentioned Epic's battle royale game, as well as other online titles. 

"Digital addictions"

"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," wrote Divorce-Online editor and MD of the company's legal services Mark Keenan wrote.

“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.

“These numbers equate to roughly five per cent of the 4,665 petitions we have handled since the beginning of the year and as one of the largest filers of divorce petitions in the UK, is a pretty good indicator.”

Our sister-site PCGamesInsider.biz has the full story.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.