Epic Games’ servers offline for Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 launch

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Strap in, gamers, because the launch of Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 has been an absolute plopshow – in the most epically Fortnite way possible.

If you fired up your system today expecting to drop into the new Odyssey season and its promised Greek mythology theme, you were met with a harsh reality. Yup, it’s not just you; Fornite is totally down.

Epic’s servers remained offline hours after the planned 4 am ET launch, without a Minotaur or Spartan warrior in sight.

In a statement posted to Twitter, “We’re still working through some updates during downtime and will provide more information once our v29.00 downtime has ended.”

Oookay, then. At least they’re…working on it? Downdetector says it sure doesn’t look like they’re working hard. But hey, cut them some slack. It’s Friday. Cmon.

The plot thickened as PC Gamer reported Epic’s status updates promising an 8-hour extended downtime, which would push the new season’s availability to 2 pm ET at the earliest.

For those keeping score, that’s twice as long as the mega-update last season that introduced Lego pieces to the island.

But why such a severe delay this time around?

Rumors are swirling about everything from server meltdowns to Mr. Meowscles getting trapped in Epic’s air vents. Reps couldn’t be reached at press time for comment.

At this point, you have to feel for the developers pulling an all-nighter (or two) to get Odyssey up and running. Though gamers’ frustrations are undoubtedly reaching a boiling point, hopefully, the wait proves worth it when we finally get our hands on Zeus’ lightning bolt…or whatever godly powers await.

For now, take solace in the fact that you don’t have to worry about getting your cheeks torn apart by Fortnite’s sweaty builders for a few more hours.

Consider it an extension of the pre-season calm before the inevitable storm. We’ll be here, anxiously awaiting our descent into chaotic mythology madness.

Are you affected by this? Take the day off work just to play ? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.