Fortnite Chapter 4 is just hours away. While Epic hasn’t publicly stated when Fortnite’s servers will be back, some historical precedent and reasonable deductions 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 Fortnite servers be back up?
Fortnite is currently in scheduled downtime following the Chapter 3 Finals. This means that Chapter 4 is upon us and with it will come, among other things, new weapons, a brand new island and a new battle pass. But none of that matters until the Fortnite servers let players back into the game. Epic likes to keep this a surprise, but recent history dictates it Fortnite will be playable again sometime around 4 AM – 7 AM PT / 7 AM – 10 AM ET tomorrow, December 4th. This three hour window is our best guess based on having covered several seasons of Fortnite now, and as always, the actual time is subject to change for any number of reasons.
First, downtime is required to apply the game’s latest update, and updates may be delayed. Although Epic is shooting for the earliest possible time to launch Chapter 4, things can get in the way of that plan. It’s also worth noting that this past year, new seasons (and the launch of Chapter 3) featured a queue system that slowed players’ ability to enter the game past the main menu. You should definitely expect – and plan for – a queue when you start up Fortnite tomorrow. A new chapter launch is about as big as it gets in Fortnite, so it’s going to be a very busy day for Epic and all Fortnite players.
Even being there right when servers come online will probably cause a bit of extra wait time, but your queue time will only grow if you’re a bit later than others, so this is a situation where you want to plan ahead, apply updates as soon as you can, or make sure it automatically updates on the platform of your choice so you don’t have to.
With all this in mind, get ready to drop into a new map, with a new battle pass and new weapons – plus all the other secrets Fortnite has in store for us. See you on the Battle Bus!
The products discussed here were independently selected by our editors. GameSpot may receive a portion of the revenue if you purchase something displayed on our site.