Fortnite Chapter 4 is just hours away. While Epic hasn’t publicly announced when Fortnite’s servers will be back, some historical precedent and reasonable inferences give us a pretty clear window of time. The short answer: you won’t be waiting long. For a more detailed answer, keep reading. Here’s when you can play Fortnite again.
When will the Fortnite servers be backed up?
Fortnite is currently on a scheduled shutdown after the Chapter 3 finale. That means Chapter 4 is upon us and with it will come new weapons, a brand new island, and a new battle pass, among other things. But none of that matters until the Fortnite servers allow players back into the game. Epic likes to keep this a surprise, but recent history suggests Fortnite will be playable again around 4:00-7:00 a.m. PT / 7:00-10:00 a.m. ET tomorrow, December 4. This three-hour window is our best estimate based on coverage of multiple seasons of Fortnite to date, and as always, the actual time is subject to change for a number of reasons.
For one thing, downtime is required to apply the latest game patch, and patches can be delayed. Even if Epic spins as soon as possible to launch Chapter 4, things can get in the way of that plan. It’s also worth noting that last year’s new seasons (and the launch of Chapter 3) featured a queuing system that slowed players’ ability to enter the game beyond the main menu. You should definitely expect – and plan for – a queue when you start Fortnite for the first time tomorrow. A new chapter launch is about as big as Fortnite, so it’s going to be a very busy day for Epic and all Fortnite players.
Even being there just when the servers are online will likely result in additional wait time, but your wait time will only increase if you’re a bit later than others, so this is a situation where you You’ll want to plan ahead, apply the update as soon as you can, or even make sure it updates automatically on your platform of choice so you don’t have to.
With all this in mind, get ready to discover a new map, with a new battle pass and new weapons, as well as all the other secrets that Fortnite has in store for us. See you soon on the Battle Bus!
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