Fortnite DOWN – Game shuts off for all players as update 12.30 looms

FORTNITE has gone down for gamers across the globe this morning as developer Epic Games prepares a big new update.

The firm announced the planned outage late last night, confirming that update 12.30 was on the way on Tuesday, March 31.

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Fortnite is down for maintenance this morningCredit: SWNS:South West News Service

At 7am BST (2am ET) this morning, the Fortnite Status Twitter page declared that downtime for v12.30 had begun.

The official account gave no timescale for when the game would be back online.

"We'll provide an update when downtime ends," it wrote.

Fortnite updates typically take no longer than three hours.

Credit: Twitter

That means players can expect the game to go live again around 10am BST (5am ET).

The outage affects all systems, meaning Fortnite players on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Mobile are unable to play online.

And the update hasn't just hit Fortnite Battle Royale - the most popular game mode - but also Save the World and Creative modes, too.

Epic Games has previously detailed what bugs and other problems it aims to fix with future updates.

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This outage map shows the locations of gamers reporting problems with FortniteCredit: DownDetector

However, the company doesn't always fix every issue it has identified within a single update.

For some reason, it instead opts to pick and choose some issues to fix, while others are left for future downloads.

In any case, here are some of the problems we may (or may not) see fixed by v12.30:

General Issues

Scores from tournaments in the Compete tab will be visually incorrect in the Lobby and in-match.

Battle Royale Issues

In a Spy Games mode, players may get stuck on the "Select Tech" screen.

Players' style selection for certain Locker items may not save.

The Harpoon Gun does not successfully catch loot on a consistent basis.

Players may be unable to pick up items using Auto Pick Up.

The Deadpool Plunger from his Week 3 Challenges is not visible.

Creative Issues

When copying Billboards, the settings will not save from the copied Billboard.

Players on mobile will not be able to interact with the Quick Menu using the pre-assigned buttons.

What is Fortnite, anyway?

FORTNITE is an online video game played by up to 250 million people across the world.

In it, 100 players compete on their own or with a small group of pals to grab weapons, gather resources and build defences, before fighting it out to be the last man (or team) standing.

Matches take about 20 minutes, and you can drop into a new game within seconds of your previous one finishing.

It's bright, it's cartoony and it's fiendishly compelling.

Skill is rewarded but luck also plays a huge role, meaning no two games are ever the same and everyone feels like they have a chance of winning.

Fortnite has also made its developer billions.

In Europe it's rated 12+, meaning it's suitable for those aged 12 and up.

The battle royale mode is free to play, but there is also a story-driven single player and co-op mode called Save The World that players have to pay for.

Pop culture crossover events are very common because of the game's huge audience.

These involve players being able to buy themed outfits for the movie, TV show or brand, as well as getting some themed activities in-game to do too.

These might be new places to explore, new challenges to complete to win themed accessories, or new game modes that are loosely related to the theme of whatever is being crossed over with.

Save the World Issues

Defender eliminations no longer count towards player quest credit. Defenders should work with players and not against them. We're working on a fix.

High levels of Love Lobbers will spawn. Anecdotal reports indicate 4-8 Lobbers at a time in some instances. We're working to slightly reduce these numbers.

Love Lobbers are dealing more damage than intended to player built structures. Love Lobber's will no longer deal damage to player structures in an upcoming update.

Mobile Issues

Shadows display at a high contrast and most textures appear as black.

We're currently investigating an issue on the Note 10+ device that is displaying a black bar on the left hand side of the screen.

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Are you excited for the Fortnite update? Let us know in the comments...

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