Epic Games Bans Prodigy Fortnite Pro for Being 9 Years Old

Today in “well that’s a thing” news, a former competitive Fortnite player known as Zenon received a four-year competitive ban after placing in a paid tournament when Epic Games discovered that he was guilty of being nine years old.

Yeah, just let that sink in.

Despite the fact that Fortnite is clearly designed with younger audiences in mind, it’s still technically rated 13+, which means you have to be a proper teenager in order to “play,” as far as Epic Games is concerned. Zenon probably would have flown under the radar if he was less than good at the game, but by placing in a paid tournament Epic Games caught wind of his age and decided to enforce the rules that were pretty clearly laid out when you download the game.

As a competitive ban, he’s only banned from playing in ranked matches and tournaments. He’s still able to play in casual modes.

That hasn’t stopped people from taking to Twitter to protest the ban, arguing that since Fortnite is for kids and the kid is talented, he should be allowed to play. And on one hand I kind of agree with them, clearly Epic Games relies a lot on the business from kids under 13 and this feels like an unnecessary bit of showmanship on their part to act like they’re somehow better than this. On the other hand… like, everyone knew that you had to be 13, right? That’s not a secret. The kid and his parents were flaunting the rules. What happened was a natural reaction to that. You shouldn’t get a free pass just because you’ve got talents.

Epic Games has yet to respond, although I anticipate if this blows up enough – and more big-name Fortnite players come to this kid’s defense, which they’re already lining up to do – they will eventually. I probably won’t report on it, though, because this whole thing is incredibly silly.