Fortnite is currently down ahead of the launch of its new season, a crime caper titled “Lawless” that stars a rapping pickle named Big Dill. Developer Epic Games took the game’s servers offline at 7am on Friday morning, with matchmaking disabled shortly beforehand.
Here’s when the downtime is expected to end, allowing players to jump into Chapter 6, Season 2. At the time of writing, Fortnite has been down for roughly an hour as Epic performs scheduled maintenance on its servers (the powerful computers and networks that power all aspects of the online game, from player movements to social features).
During downtime, players remain stuck on a loading screen and are unable to access any of Fortnite’s multitudinous game modes. The game is typically unplayable for five hours or more if Epic is implementing a big update like today’s, which involves a raft of new content, including changes to the Fortnite map, a new Battle Pass, and Fortnite Store updates.
Notably, Fortnite went offline two hours earlier than usual this time around, which could suggest Epic is anticipating an extended downtime. If everything goes smoothly, the game could be back online between 12pm to 2pm in the UK. Let’s just hope it doesn’t last as long as the blackout in 2019, when Fortnite was unavailable for a whopping 36 hours.
The night before the new season’s launch, Epic announced that console players can pre-download the update, ensuring they can jump straight into Chapter 6, Season 2 as soon as it’s live. To start the pre-download, Xbox players should go to My Games & Apps > Manage > Updates.
PS5 players can also prepare for the update by setting their console to connect to the internet while in Rest Mode. To do so, navigate to Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Automatic Updates and enable Auto-Download and Auto-Install in Rest Mode for the pre-download to trigger automatically.
Judging by the recent trailer, Fortnite is doffing its cap to GTA this season with an explosive update built around heists and double-crosses. Big Dill is joined by fan-favourite character Midas, along with a handful of female outlaws, and an anthropomorphic wolf who could be this season’s big bad.
As such, the new Battle Pass looks like it will be heavy on original skins, but there’s at least one big pop culture crossover to look forward to. Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero is coming to Fortnite and he may let you turn opponents into ice blocks. Based on recent teasers, players could be carrying out high-stakes heists on an updated map based on Las Vegas. Eagle-eyed fans have also spotted dual-wield shotguns, a plasma burst rifle and an armoured wall that could act as bulwark against foes.
