Fortnite players waking up to login errors this morning might be scratching their heads, but it's no surprise—Epic Games has taken the servers offline for the 37.40 update, kicking off the spooky Fortnitemares event. The downtime started around 8 AM ET, and while estimates point to a few hours at most, these things can drag on if glitches pop up. Indeed, the battle royale giant rarely sticks to the clock perfectly during big patches.
So, is Fortnite down right now? Absolutely, across platforms from PC to consoles and mobile. Downdetector is lighting up with reports of connection issues, matchmaking fails, and that frustrating "servers not responding" message. Epic's status page confirms the maintenance, aimed at rolling out Halloween-themed goodies like new skins, weapons, and perhaps some eerie map changes. Fortnitemares has always been a fan favorite, though it does mean sidelining millions of users at peak times—hardly ideal for a game built on constant action.
Moreover, this isn't some random outage; it's scheduled to align with October's vibe, bringing back classics like the haunted house modes or zombie hordes. However, past downtimes have stretched longer than promised—remember that 12-hour delay back in March? Players are advised to check Epic's official channels for real-time updates, as the servers should flicker back on by early afternoon ET. In the meantime, why not queue up some other games or theory-craft the next big drop?
The update promises to inject fresh thrills into the meta, but it underscores how reliant Fortnite's ecosystem is on these periodic blackouts. One can't help but wonder if smoother rollouts could keep the momentum going without the interruptions.