At least a dozen Premier League stars ‘are being treated for addiction to video game sensation Fortnite after playing started to affect their form on the pitch’

• At least a dozen stars have sought help with addiction therapy Steve Pope
• Prince Harry said Fortnite should be banned because the game is ‘irresponsible’
• The Battle Royale version sees 100 players fight each other on a shrinking island
• Health professionals have said it is causing kids to lose sleep and avoid school
• They have likened the game to kids being addicted to various drugs 

Premier League stars have been seeking treatment for addiction to video game Fortnite, after it started affecting their performance.

Addiction Therapist Steve Pope, who has worked as a psychologist at clubs including Manchester United and Burnley, said that at least a dozen footballers have sought help with him already. 

It follows calls from Prince Harry for the game, where 100 players battle each other to see who will be the last one standing on a shrinking island, to be banned.

Tottenham Hotspur player Dele Alli is thought to be a fan of Fortnite. He was seen doing the flossing dance from the match at a football game

Arsenal player Mesut Ozil is also thought to be a fan and is pictured here playing the game

Fortnite: Battle Royale has up to 100 players drop onto an island, search for weapons, and try and survive as the island gradually shrinks

The game had previously been endorsed by top English football players Harry Kane, Dele Alli and French professional player Antoine Griezmann.

‘Fortnite has been rife in football for over a year – I’m working with a North West team where two left-backs are fighting over the same position on the pitch,’ he told the Sunday Mirror.

‘They’ve been playing until 5am some nights, hitting their performance in matches and training.’

And an EFL player has told how they are so addicted they play marathon Fortnite sessions of up to 16 hours a day, damaging their career and relationship.

 ‘When we have matches and we travel by coach, I am gaming from the moment we leave and then I carry on in my hotel room at night,’ he told The Sun.

Antoine Griezmann is a big fan of Fortnite, incorporating the game into his goal celebrations

Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas pictured playing Fortnite

‘It is quite normal for me to stay up playing until two o’clock or three o’clock in the morning.

‘I get a lot of eye strain, I am tired the next day and I miss training sometimes.’ 

Some football players have already endorsed the game and brought some of its unique dance moves onto the pitch.

Dele Alli has been seen performing the flossing dance move, iconic to the game, while French player Antoine Griezmann incorporated a game dance into his goal celebrations.

There is no suggestion that these players are among those being treated. 

Prince Harry has called for the game and its latest instalment, Fortnite: Battle Royale, to be banned saying that it’s ‘irresponsible’.

‘A game like Fortnite for instance may not be so good for children,’ he said at a meeting on youth mental health.

‘Parents have got their hands up – they don’t know what to do about it. It’s like waiting for the damage to be done and kids turning up on your doorsteps and families being broken.

‘Fortnite shouldn’t be allowed. Where is it having a benefit in your household?

Prince Harry, pictured taking part in a children’s ballet class at a YMCA in west London, said that the game should be banned because it was developed ‘irresponsibly’

‘It’s created to addict – an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It’s so irresponsible.’ 

Health professionals have spoken out about the impact playing Fortnite has on children – likening its addictive nature to that of hard drugs.

Played by more than 200 million, the cartoon multiplayer shooter game is costing children sleep, their school work and causing them to become violent. 

Michael Rich, a director of the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders, said kids routines were disrupted and they weren’t getting a good education because of the game.

Health professionals have spoken out about the impact playing Fortnite has on children likening it to them being addicted to drugs

Played by more than 200 million users, the cartoon multiplayer shooter game is costing children sleep, their school work and causing them to become violent

‘They are not sleeping. They are not going to school. They are dropping out of social activities. A lot of kids have stopped playing sports so they can do this,’ he told the Boston Globe.

‘We have one kid who destroyed the family car because he thought his parents had locked his device inside.’

‘He took a hammer to the windshield.’

His account is just one of many that describe an obsession so intense that kids are seeing doctors and therapists to break the game’s hold over their children.

MailOnline has contacted Epic Games, who own Fortnite, for comment. 

Harry’s blast at ‘irresponsible’ Fortnite  

By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent for the Daily Mail 

Prince Harry yesterday suggested the ‘irresponsible’ computer game Fortnite should be banned.

Speaking at a meeting on youth mental health issues, the father-to-be also claimed social media was more addictive than drugs or alcohol.

And he said parents were at a loss as to how to handle the challenges of digital media. ‘A game like Fortnite for instance may not be so good for children,’ he said.

‘Parents have got their hands up – they don’t know what to do about it.

‘It’s like waiting for the damage to be done and kids turning up on your doorsteps and families being broken. Fortnite shouldn’t be allowed. Where is the benefit in having that game in your household?

‘It’s created to addict – an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It’s so irresponsible.

‘Growing up in today’s world, social media is more addictive than drugs and alcohol. Yet it’s more dangerous because it’s normalised and there are no restrictions to it. We are in a mind-altering time.’

Fortnite, which launched in 2017, is said to have 250million registered players, including England football stars Harry Kane and Dele Alli. It is free but offers paid-for extras – earning an estimated £1.8billion for its US developer Epic Games last year.

Although intended for players aged 12 and older, many younger children have become addicted.

Fortnite’s popular Battle Royale version sees 100 players pitted against each other, creating superhero avatars for a fight to the death using crossbows, rifles and even grenade launchers.

Harry’s comments about Fortnite and social media came a day after he and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, launched their own Instagram site which has gathered more than two million followers in 24 hours. Kensington Palace had a photographer and a social media co-ordinator at yesterday’s event to create online content.

Aides rejected any suggestion of hypocrisy, saying that while the prince had no regrets about attacking social media, he also acknowledged that it could be a force for good and bring people and communities together when it wasn’t being abused.

Kensington Palace has been forced to take action against vile slurs being posted by trolls about the Duchesses of Sussex and Cambridge on its social media sites.

Speaking at the South Ealing YMCA in west London, Harry said: ‘We are in an exciting time because everybody in this room has an opportunity to actually make a real difference so that young people coming through are less connected to their phones.

‘They can be as connected as they want to be but they have to have human connection as well.

‘Without that human connection when you do have a problem you have nowhere to go and the only place you might go is online and you probably getting bullied.’

The prince unexpectedly took part in a ballet class for four- to six-year-olds in an activity room at the YMCA and watched as the children performed two dances.

He told the group that they all deserved gold stars.

He also greeted three-month-old Naz Hamed whose proud mother Maria said: ‘I think he has babies on his mind’ – referring to the fact that Harry and wife Meghan are soon to become parents. 

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