UPDATE: Fortnite players across the United States, including those in Chicago, are currently locked out of the game as servers are down for urgent maintenance. Epic Games has confirmed that the downtime follows the highly anticipated Zero Hour live event, during which the new v39.00 update will be released.
The maintenance began Saturday, leading to widespread reports of issues starting around noon. By 1:15 p.m., nearly 2,000 players had already reported being unable to access the game, according to monitoring site Down Detector.
An alert on the Epic Games website stated, “Fortnite game servers will be offline following the Zero Hour live event while we release v39.00.” The downtime is expected to last several hours, leaving millions of players frustrated as they await the return of their favorite game.
Fortnite, created by Epic Games, boasts over 400 million users worldwide and has generated more than $5 billion in revenue, making this outage particularly impactful for its dedicated player base.
As players eagerly await updates, many are discussing the implications of this downtime on their gaming experience. The Zero Hour event marks a significant transition as Fortnite shifts from Chapter 6 to Chapter 7, creating heightened anticipation for what’s next in the game.
Stay tuned for further updates as the situation develops and follow Epic Games’ official channels for live updates.
