Many users reported issues on Tuesday morning at Downdetector, about the Fortinite Battle Royale video game. The issue lasted for about 8 hours, which is unusual as typically these sorts of lags are solved in 2-4 hours max.
Users became frustrated, some even started posting fake news about its permanent shutdown.
At 7 AM, 380 users submitted a server connection issue, which later increased to 850 reports at 9 AM. But Fortnite’s owner explains that the outages were due to an update (v36.20).
“The v36.20 update brings new weapons and items like the Unstable Thunderclap DMR, Lightrider’s Surf Cube, and the Unstable Bounce Grenade.
Explore Utopia City-themed Prefabs and Galleries, plus a range of other updates and fixes.”
Public Response During the System Downtime
When the users continued experiencing the issue, they started posting about it on X. As one of the users commented:
“@Fortnite You said the maintenance would last 2.5 hours, but it’s already been 5, and not only are the servers still down, but there’s been complete radio silence. At the very least, please update your players. We understand things can go wrong, but keeping everyone informed goes a long way.”
As user concerns grew, Fortnite posted an update to calm the community and address their questions.
“Hey everyone, we’re extending downtime while we work to resolve an issue discovered during offline checks. We’ll do our best to get Fortnite servers online ASAP. Keep an eye on this thread for any future updates.”
About 12 hours after the previous outage, the users started reporting about the matchmake feature. Fortnite has maintained its legacy for the last 8 years, with 400 million registered users, and such repeated glitches raise concerns. These issues sparked questions on the credibility of the developers, whether Epic Games is prepared to handle the pressure during updates or peak events.
Another user posted:
“I was experimenting with matchmaking issues for about a week.”
Finally, after continuous struggles, Fortnite posted:
“The issue affecting matchmaking has been resolved.”
Has this happened to Fortnite before?
Yes, Fortnite has faced major outages and technical issues in the past, especially during big updates, new seasons, or live events when millions of players log in at once.
One of the most famous is the Black Hole Event in October 2019, when Epic Games ended Chapter 1 with an in-game event that turned the screen into a black hole. The servers were down for almost two days, and the players were unable to play. Although this was a planned event, many users were confused why this happened.
In 2020, during the launch of Chapter 2 Season 3, technical glitches caused matchmaking failures and game crashes, which spoiled the experience of the game.
Another major incident occurred in March 2022, when a sudden spike in player activity occurred, but it caused login errors, freezing, and matchmaking bugs. Epic Games was forced to temporarily shut down servers to stabilize the game and fix the problems.
However, this has not only happened with Fortnite, but large online games often face similar problems, especially during big launches. For instance, Call of Duty: Warzone faced server instability during its Season 4 launch in May 2025, in which players reported disconnects and crashes.
Similarly, Apex Legends has struggled with matching glitches and game crashes. GTA Online users have also reported slow load times and connection issues, especially after a new update or a new season launch. They reported the load time as 5-10+ minutes.
These types of issues are common in large-scale online games, especially during major updates or season launches. Despite the continuous glitches, the developers tried their best to solve the issues quickly. Fortnite has tackled the situation efficiently by keeping users updated throughout the process. But maybe, just maybe, a systematic approach where users are informed in advance about any possible outages can go a long way.
