Girl Wouldn't Stop Playing 'Fortnite' To Use Bathroom, Sent To Rehab

UNITED KINGDOM (CBS Local) - A young girl in the UK has been sent to rehab after her parents claim she became so addicted to a video game she refused to stop playing, even to use the bathroom.

According to reports, the nine-year-old downloaded the online multiplayer battle royale "Fortnite" after being given an Xbox One in January. "She was so hooked to the game she wouldn't even go to the toilet," the child's mother said, via the Daily Mail.

"My husband saw her light on in the night and found her sitting on a urine-soaked ­cushion playing the game."

The parents told British reporters that their daughter began to fall asleep in school and became aggressive with her classmates while she was hooked on Fortnite. After a series of $67 charges were placed on the family's credit card by the girl for premium in-game items, her father went to confiscate the Xbox and was struck in the face by the out-of-control kid.

"Over the last two months I've been ­contacted by dozens of parents with children as young as eight showing signs of addiction to Fortnite," counselor Steve Pope told the Mirror UK.

"I urge every parent out there to know what this game can do, how it sucks young children in and could ruin lives," the nine-year-old's mother added.

In the United States, the Fortnite addiction is equally as bad with many parents trying to figure out how to keep their kids away from the battle royale.

"He is like a functioning alcoholic," one parent wrote on Facebook, according to CBS Chicago.

"Fortnite is tearing my family apart."

The game - which came out in July 2017 - has already attracted millions of players and reportedly generated close to $300 million in revenue in April.