"Fortnite": Parents can determine how long their children play

Epic Games is expanding the parental controls for the online game "Fortnite": Parents and guardians can now specify how much time their children are allowed to spend playing "Fortnite" each day. In addition, time windows in which playing is permitted can be defined in the settings.

The new control features can be activated in the Epic Games account settings under "Parental controls". If everything is set correctly, children will see a notification when they only have 30 minutes left to play. This works in "Fortnite" itself, but also in related applications such as "Lego Fortnite" and "Unreal Editor for Fortnite" (UEFN) creations.

Reports show how long children play

Exploratory children then have the option of asking their parents digitally for more playing time. The playtime restriction works account-wide and across all devices – so a child cannot simply switch to their cell phone if they have already exceeded the playtime limit on their PC.

Parents can use the new feature not only to set upper limits, but also to be informed about how long their children are playing. Parents can also have game reports sent to them. They then can see how long their child has been playing and when in a bar chart.

Fortnite's time monitoring complements comparable child safety functions that the respective platforms already offer. Windows, Xbox, Playstation and Switch also offer features that can be used to monitor the screen time of family members. The advantage of the Epic function for parents is that they do not have to make the settings for each platform individually.

"Fortnite" is approved by the USK for ages 12 and up. UEFN creations, which often originate from the community, may not include content that exceeds a USK rating of 16 years or older.

(dahe)