Pro Hockey Players Are Being Told To Stop Talking About Fortnite

There's one game almost everyone is talking about these days, whether they're a hardcore, midcore, or a casual gamer: Fortnite. The game bolsters more than 125 million players, and Epic Games has managed to capture an entire market's attention. No, scratch that. Epic managed to capture the attention of just about everybody, including hockey players. Yes, professional, NHL hockey players are also eyeball-deep into Epic Games' Battle Royale shooter, Fortnite, and it's managed to get so bad that some pro hockey players are being told to stop talking about Fortnite.

There's a tweet from Rick Westhead, a correspondent with The Sports Network, indicating that some players have been told that they can no longer reference Fortnite in their social media accounts. Apparently, certain teams in the NHL feel as if the Battle Royale shooter-builder is a "major distraction" and/or "obsession."

The thread isn't entirely positive about this decision. One person noted that one team actually went to visit the Epic Games headquarters and learn a little bit about what goes into making a game like Fortnite, as well as learning about the culture, content, and creative process.

Others lambasted the decision, claiming that this is a bad move by NHL teams which are prohibiting players from publicly talking about a game like Fortnite on social media. A few made the argument that video games are a much healthier outlet for the players than getting drunk or high after the game.

There are countless stories about sports stars getting into drunken brawls at bars, or fisticuffs at nightclubs. The teams and the leagues usually have to work extra hard to keep stuff like that out of the headlines, but every once in a while we still hear about the antics that take place when the athletes are let loose after the game.

In the Twitter thread a few people suggested that maybe letting the NHL teams talk about and engage in Fortnite would be a better outlet and alternative than letting them get drunk. This is actually very similar to what's happening in the locker room of various sports. NFL players have been known to play video games during downtime, just the same as WWE superstars are known for playing video games in between matches or while waiting around backstage. Heck, there's even a channel called Up Up Down Down, hosted by superstar Xavier Woods, which highlights the culture of gaming within the WWE. Almost everyone on the show comments how important it is to have a healthy outlet when they aren't working, as opposed to ending up in headlines the next morning after being engaged in some huge brawl or controversy.

Of course, there are people who support the restrictions on NHL players talking about Fortnite. Some feel as if instead of being obsessed with games like Call of Duty or Halo or Epic's Battle Royale game, the players should be focused on hockey.

Westhead doesn't say just how bad the obsession was, but it appears it was apparent enough that some NHL teams simply don't want their players talking about Fortnite anymore.