Fortnite is down.
Just like the end of Chapter 1, when the map was swallowed by a black hole, the popular Battle Royale game has gone offline before the start of Chapter 3.
The live-event, fittingly titled The End, was an epic finale to Fortnite’s Chapter 2.
The End Recap
You can watch the live-event in the above video.
The Cube Queen, for reasons left unexplained, opened a hole in the sky revealing a fleet of alien motherships. Her goal? Total annhialiation of the island and its denizens.
Just when all seemed lost, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson showed up. Or, rather, the Foundation—leader of the Seven—showed up to help Jonesy save the day.
I admit, I was surprised that they even showed the Foundation’s face, and that it looked so strikingly similar to the Rock, but it was a lot of fun. I don’t think it was the best live-event this game has ever done, but it was definitely up there—and it went off without a hitch. I was late logging in and only joined with ten minutes before 4pm ET and still got into a lobby without issue. Not even a queue to wait in.
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In any case, the Foundation and Jonesy, with the help of the Scientist and all the players, managed to save the island by flipping it over, dunking the Cube Queen into the salty sea in the process and closing the hole in the sky (sort of like how the Avengers saved NYC). Players were shot out of the island and into the water and that was that.
Instead of a black hole, the game just shows the water with players hanging out on rafts . . . waiting for whenever servers go back online and Chapter 3 begins. So when will that be?
Chapter 3 Start-Time
As of right now, Epic Games has not announced a date for the start of Chapter 3 or told anyone when the game’s servers will go back online. But we can still make a very educated guess.
When Chapter 1 ended, the black hole was up for just over 37 hours before the game went back online and Chapter 2 began. This was almost certainly longer than it needed to be down since updates—even very big ones—only take a few hours.
Still, it helped drive a lot of hype and excitement for the new Chapter (which, sadly, released one of the longest, most boring seasons ever and never really reached the heights of Chapter 1). Others have guessed Tuesday, when Fortnite typically updates.
However, leakers are now saying Fortnite will be up tomorrow morning at 10 AM ET / 7 AM PT. If it doesn’t go live tomorrow my guess is Tuesday, but right now a Sunday morning launch looks like the safe bet.
Once the game is back up, Chapter 3 will begin. There will be a new Battle Pass and new game mechanics like sliding, which looks similar to Apex Legends.
New Battle Pass skins for Chapter 3, Season 1 include Spider-Man and the Foundation.
Here’s the leaked trailer:
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