Why are Fortnite servers down? Game not responding ahead of update

Fortnite is showing “under maintenance”

(AFP via Getty Images)

Fortnite has gone down ahead of a new update.

Developers Epic Games said they had disabled matchmaking ahead of the upcoming v19.01 update.

On its server status page, it noted that almost all parts of Fortnite – from the game services to the item shops and leaderboards – were “under maintenance”.

Epic did not say how long the downtime would last, but server outages for maintenance tend to take around two hours. The outage began around 8am UK time.

All other parts of Epic, such as other games like Rocket League, as well as the Fortnite website, were still functional as normal.

Epic did not detail what the new update would include. But it is likely to include bug fixes, as well as new content such as the preparation for its annual “Winterfest” event.

Fortnite is regularly taken offline to prepare for new updates, with the outages serving both a technical and marketing purpose. In 2019, gamers were unable to play for more than a day to make way for its major “Chapter 2” patch.