This is the timeline of the server down in Fortnite on 12/29:

• At 5:13 p.m. German time, Epic games reported on Fortnite that there were issues with login, matchmaking and other difficulties. Epic is taking a closer look.
• Then at 7:13 p.m. German time came the message, “Fortnite is currently unavailable,” with players unable to log in. The problem is being investigated and will be communicated as soon as the servers are back online.

If you can’t play Fortnite at the moment, it’s not because of you, your ISP, or the new traffic light coalition in Berlin – these are worldwide problems right now.

Epic Games’ message coincides with the timing of the difficulties, which can be observed via Google Trends: Searches for Fortnite spiked from 4:50 p.m. German time, then peaked at 7:08 p.m., and have been at a consistently high level ever since.

In Fortnite, the servers were regularly down during the peak phase

What is the reaction? With Fortnite, you know server outages, at least if you’ve been playing for a few years.

In the “growth phase” of Fortnite, around 2018, the server downs were a regular occurrence. Fortnite was overrun at the time, so popular was “Fortnite: Battle Royale,” a hastily ramped up emergency game at the time.

In recent years, however, such problems have become rarer.

Back then, a lot of frustration spread among players when they had to wait for days until the game was running again. Back then, there were actually compensations for a long outage:

On Dec. 29, users on Twitter comment on the server down at Fortnite rather amused and ironic:

• One user demands 100,000 V-Bucks and the skin “Renegade Raider” as compensation.
• A second user writes: “The game is dead (literally)”.

What could be the reason for the server down? If the problems started at 17:00 German time, then escalated at 19:00, that points to some kind of overload or too “heavy a rush”, because European prime time should be reached around 19:00, which is when most users worldwide should be online in Fortnite at the same time.

Actually, though, there’s no evidence that Fortnite should have an extreme player peak by the end of 2021. The last big spike in interest was on Dec. 5, when Fortnite’s 3rd chapter began with a major event.

Epic checks in with new news at 9:10 p.m.

Update 21:13: At 9:10 p.m., the latest update came from Fortnite. It says they are “working on a fix” to bring Fortnite back and thanks everyone for their patience.

For now, Fortnite’s game servers are offline while they look for solutions to the stability issues, it said. They’ll get back to you when they have more information.

Update 22:00: There was nothing new in the last 50 minutes.

In the comments on Twitter, people are saying:

• “This is completely crazy. Your servers are now down for 4 hours while kids are on Christmas vacation”.
• One user empathizes with Epic, saying, “Dumb, for you guys to have a break now for once and then you have to work there too.”

For now, Epic Games seems to be continuing to work on the server down issues in Fortnite. In the US, in North Carolina, where Epic Games is based, it’s 4pm right now. For them, this should be in a hot afternoon in skeleton staff, during the Christmas period there will also be many responsible technicians missing.

Update 11:00 pm: There is still no news from Epic Games. The servers are still down. The worldwide interest in Fortnite has even reached another peak at 22:56. This means that the situation is rather coming to a head.

Update 12/30, 0:00 a.m.: Still no news at midnight. Looks like the problem is dragging on significantly longer.

Fortnite server back online as of 0:20 a.m., first users report.

Update 0:30: There are now increasing reports that the servers in Fortnite are coming back. On Twitter, the first users report that they are coming back in. Search interest in Fortnite has also decreased significantly since 0:22 am. The situation seems to be easing.

Around 0:50 a.m., Fortnite then officially gave the all-clear: The servers were back online. They want to talk to the fans about compensation next week.

Problems in Fortnite continue on 30.12.

Update 12/30, 6:14 PM.: No good news for Fortnite fans on 30.12. There are problems again today. At 17:39 German time, Fortnite reported that they are investigating the login problems in the game.

Since about 5 p.m. German time, you can see from the worldwide Google interest in Fortnite that there are again problems in the online shooter – just like yesterday on Dec. 29. Also there, the problems started at 5 p.m. and led to a server down in Fortnite at 7 p.m..

Hopefully this won’t repeat itself today.

Update, 12/31, 2:40 PM: Epic has now held out the prospect that there will be a settlement:

Fortnite was offline for an evening, Epic promises 2022 “compensation” – Are there any gifts?