Fortnite is down and unplayable as players wait for Chapter 3

Fortnite is down and unavailable to play as Epic Games’ blockbuster battle royale transitions from Chapter 2 Season 8 — which officially came to a close Saturday, Dec. 4 — to Chapter 3 of the forever-updated game.

It’s not clear when Fortnite will come back online from its post-season maintenance mode, but if the end of “Chapter 1” of the game (when the map got sucked into a black hole) is any indication, it could be hours before players get back onto Epic’s murder island.

Chapter 2 wrapped Saturday when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — who was revealed to play The Foundation in the game — saved Jonesy and the FortniteIsland flipped on its side, unleashing an enormous tidal surge and ushering in a new landscape for building, shooting, and survival.

Players who have the good fortune to log in for now will be able to do so. Fortnite (which isn’t many), will only be able to see their character floating in the middle of the ocean as the servers remain unavailable for the foreseeable future.

What Fortnite Chapter 3 will bring to the battle royale phenomenon — which will celebrate its fifth anniversary next year — remains to be seen. We’ll update this page with new details when we know more.