Fortnite DOWN? – Game coming back up for all players as outage for 5.1 ends
Have you been locked out of Fortnite? You're not alone, because the game had gone offline
FORTNITE went DOWN this morning in a major outage that affected all players around the world for the roll-out of the patch v5.10 update.
The game was taken offline by Epic Games for maintenance, meaning players were shut out of the hit video game on Tuesday, July 24, from 8a.m. UK time until shortly before 11 a.m. when the game's servers started to come back up.
Why is Fortnite not working?
Fortnite is a battle royale game where up to 100 players are dropped on to an island to fight in a last-person-standing death match.
This morning, the hugely popular game went down for players around the world.
In a tweet on Monday evening, Epic Games confirmed the outage.
"There's a party and you're invited! Patch v5.10 releases tomorrow, July 24, and it marks #Fortnite1st birthday."
This was followed by a tweet on Tuesday morning at 9.30am UK time.
It read: "Downtime for the v5.10 update has begun. Unwrap the Patch Notes to see all the tasty treats we have in store for you.
They announced it was back at 10.50 a.m. - though admitted some players were not able to instantly access the Birthday Challenges as they were still being deployed.
When will Fortnite come back online?
There's currently no ETA on the game coming back online.
Fortnite regularly goes down for maintenance and updates.
If it's an emergency maintenance outage, the game can be off for an entire day or more.
That's because developers are scrambling to work out what's gone wrong – and more importantly, how to fix it.
Fortnite 5.1 patch notes – Compact SMG, birthday challenges and playground mode
But the most common reason why Fortnite goes down is for a major update.
Epic Games has to take Fortnite offline to roll out big changes – like adding new weapons, features or game modes.
When this happens, Fortnite is typically only down for a few hours, and Epic Games generally announces when it's back online.
What is Fortnite Battle Royale?
If you're new to the game, here's what you need to know
- Fortnite's Battle Royale is free-to-play
- It's available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, iPhone and most recently Nintendo Switch
- In the game, up to 100 players are dropped onto a fictional island
- Players are then forced to battle it out in a last-person-standing deathmatch
- To help, players can collect a range of weapons hidden all over the island
- You can also collect resources – like wood, bricks and metal – to build defensive structures
- The area you can play in on the island is constantly shrinking thanks to an encroaching storm
- This means players are forced together over time, until just one person survives
- The game also has a paid-for co-op story campaign
Can't get enough?
If you want, you can also get the mobile version of the game - click here for our Fortnite iPhone guide. You can now also get the game on Nintendo Switch.
What's your favourite Fortnite weapon? Let us know in the comments section.
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