Fortnite End of the World PS4 PlayStation 4
Image: GameSpot

Frustratingly, no one at Push Square plays cultural phenomenon Fortnite, so this article is running about 12 hours late. Nevertheless, it’s been fascinating to learn how Epic Games wrapped up the anticipated 10th Season to its Early Access Battle Royale blockbuster. (Yes, that previous sentence has us stumped too, but it’s technically accurate.)

So here’s the TL;DR: you can’t currently play the game. Like, at all. Streaming sites like Twitch attracted so many viewers as the entire game world was pulled into a black hole that they struggled to serve the demand, while the title is currently one of the top trending terms on social media platforms such as Twitter. You can see what happened at the end through here:

Incredibly, even the menus got sucked into the black hole, assuming you didn’t get into a match quick enough. We know, through various leaks, that a Fortnite: Chapter 2 will deploy eventually, but the developer hasn’t provided a timeline on when the title will come back online. For now, it’s quite literally unplayable.

This, as far as we’re concerned, is service gaming at its best. It simply wouldn’t be possible to put together events like this under traditional business models, and while we respect the scepticism regarding the monetisation of these types of titles, it’s pretty clear that – in this instance, anyway – investment is being poured back into providing an entertaining experience.