Last night, Fortnite players suddenly discovered that the game that has broken its own player base records time after time was dead. All across social media, dataminers, content creators, and gamers of all stripes discussed their sudden inability to access the game.
Epic Games quickly confirmed that some kind of log in issue had occured and would work to resolve the matter quickly. Server outages are nothing new for even the most successful game studios. However, when morning came the company appeared to have made little progress on resolving the problem.
Matchmaking Offline Update: we’re still working to bring matchmaking back online for all players affected.
We’re postponing the OCE Div Cup Final and will announce a reschedule for this at a later date. pic.twitter.com/zdeNlKX0ir
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) March 29, 2025
Multiple major esports events have been postponed as a result of the issues which appear to affeck matchmaking, logging in, and selecting games in the Discover Lobby. As of 8:47 am ET on March 29, the issue remains in effect with no sense of how long it will last.
We are aware of an issue where players cannot log in, matchmake, or select a game in the Discover Lobby. We are actively investigating it and will update this thread once we have more info. pic.twitter.com/HdjJ0yASZs
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) March 29, 2025
With Fortnite completely inaccessible, its player base had nothing else to do but discuss the health of the game on social media. While Fortnite has had numerous record breaking moments over the last few years thanks to its IP-laden live events, it doesn’t take long for gamers to start declaring a game dead. Especially when that game is, quite literally, not live.
Fortnite servers went down. I immediately touched grass for the first time in over 3 years. I got a job. I started talking to my family again.
I hate it please just fix the game. 😭
— Jordan Payton (@LEGIQN) March 29, 2025
Fortnite has officially fallen off after all these years… pic.twitter.com/XUHA18W4GW
— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) March 29, 2025
Widespread server issues are nothing new and Epic is likely to resolve the matter before the day is out, but losing the ability to play on the weekend is frustrating for players and allows other games to steal the spotlight. The issue also comes just days after Fortnite launched its third OG season and hours after revealing a major crossover event with Mortal Kombat that is expected to arrive on April 1.
At time of writing, Epic Games has still not provided any timeline as to when the issue would be resolved. According to Downdetector, the spike in outage reports began around 10:30pm ET on March 28. Epic quickly confirmed the issues, and has provided multiple updates, though with little additional information in each new post.
Obviously, it is difficult for esports to function if the game’s best players cannot log in to the game or create matches with each other. Epic Games has already postponed multiple tournaments including:
Server stability is the most important component of a healthy esport. With thousands, or even millions of dollars on the line, it can be devastating to the success, visibility, and support of an esport for internet issues to affect the outcome of a match. As a result, it is unlikely that any major esports events will be able to take place until the matter is confidently and completely resolved on Epic’s end.
While Epic posted four hours ago that the matchmaking and Discover Lobby issues were fixed, those exact issues are listed in the lasted update provided at time of writing. Only time will tell how long it takes Epic Games to find the root of the issue
Esports Illustrated will continue to monitor the situation and the impact on any additional esports tournaments or top player responses.
