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Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 is off to an odd start. Epic Games released the update on Friday morning, yet the game wasn’t playable until late night. Once it all ended, Fortnite servers were down for more than 19 hours, which is a new record for a non-event downtime. Due to this, many players wondered what exactly happened behind the scenes.
The worth was wait, however, as it brought a new Battle Pass and weapons. On top of it, a couple of free Fortnite skins are still available, and you can still use XP maps to level up and unlock new rewards.
What caused an extended Fortnite downtime?
The downtime for Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 began on Friday at 3 AM Eastern Time. While Epic Games didn’t reveal when it would be over, most players expected servers to get back by 7 AM ET. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Instead, the community went through the longest non-event Fortnite downtime, which ended up lasting for a bit more than 19 hours.
Many players are wondering about the cause of the downtime, but Epic hasn’t given us an answer yet. However, judging by the tweets, it appears the update for the new season caused server issues. Furthermore, the development team had to release a patch to fix the servers, which makes us believe that it is indeed game files that caused the mayhem.
According to Epic Games Public Status, Fortnite servers were down for 19 hours and a minute, which is a new record. The previous longest non-event downtime lasted for 17 hours all the way back in Chapter 1 Season 3. Because of this extended downtime, Epic Games released Rust Bucket, a free back bling, for everyone. Due to this, players are wondering if they will receive another compensation this season.
Despite the server issues, the new Fortnite season is off to a great start in terms of popularity. It has around 3.1 million concurrent players on early Saturday, and we expect this number to reach at least 5 million throughout the day. The wait was definitely worth it, but we’re hoping that Epic gives us a clear answer regarding the cause of the downtime.
