[UPDATE: According to reputable Fortnite leaker HYPEX, Chapter 3 will go live tomorrow, December 5th, at 10 AM ET. Original story follows.]
On December 4th, Epic Games' battle royale title, Fortnite, had an epic season-ending event for Chapter 2 known as The End. In it, players hopped online and queued to participate in a cinematic experience where the entirety of the Fortnite island flipped over to reveal a brand-new island for the upcoming Chapter 3. Currently, the servers for Fortnite are down, with no indication from Epic Games as to when Fortnite will come back.
Once the 11-minute Fortnite event came to a close, players' avatars were left floating in the middle of the ocean, and if players log back into the game now, they will get the same screen. This event is similar to the Black Hole that happened in Fortnite a couple of years ago, causing the game to go completely offline for several days.
There's no word on when Fortnite will come back and when Chapter 3 will launch, but there has been a leak of the Chapter 3 Battle Pass trailer showing a lot of new stuff coming to the next saga of the battle royale game. It seems that not only will there be various Spider-Man costumes available, but there will be a section of the Chapter 3 map where players can visit the Daily Bugle, which is an iconic location from the Spider-Man universe, and swing around like Spider-Man himself. The leaked trailer also revealed that Microsoft would be bringing over some characters from the Gears of War franchise, specifically Kait Diaz and Marcus Fenix.
Fans can expect Chapter 3 of Fortnite to add new features and gameplay mechanics. If that leaked Battle Pass trailer is the real deal, then players can look forward to a new sliding mechanic, new tree physics, new weapons, new animals, and much more. There's even a new feature where players can store weapons in a portable tent and then use the guns in future Fortnite matches.
There's no telling when Fortnite will come back, but for now, fans can participate in the #FortniteFlipped event to help uncover the new island for Chapter 3. If folks head on to their preferred social media platform, they can use the hashtag and then flip their profile picture to eventually show the entire map on the website.
Fortnite is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The mobile version of Fortnite is still gone from the App Store and Google Play Store at the moment.