Are Fortnite servers down? This is when you can expect to be back online

Fortnite is currently undergoing a rather lengthy period of scheduled downtime, while servers are updated for Chapter 7 Season 4: Override.

Earlier this morning (20 August) matchmaking was disabled in the game around 30 minutes before the planned work, and since 6:30am BST, maintenance for v42.00 has begun.

This follows a similar pattern to previous scheduled updates.

It's expected to last five hours (or potentially even longer, depending if any tech issues arise), taking users through until around 12pm BST.

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Some have even pointed out that the Esports World Cup (EWC) is taking place today, meaning players won't have time to warm up given the outage.

Version 42.00 introduces Chapter 7 Season 4: Override, which will include changes to the Battle Royale island, new gameplay mechanics, and weapons, as well as crossovers with the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Tetris and Mega Man.

The Epic Games server status page contains all of the live information on how the deployment is progressing.

As some users weren't aware the maintenance was happening, DownDetector is currently reporting that Fortnite is 'down' - however, this update was very much planned.

Some users, however, are excited for the new chapter, and are busy finding other ways to pass the time.

"Fortnite downtime is my Christmas eve", one person wrote on X.

"Should i sleep or stay up and wait for fortnite downtime to finish... decisions decisions", a second pondered, while a third added: "Feels crazy we're at a new season".

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