Is Fortnite down? Server status as Epic Games prepares to introduce Slurp Rush island to players

Not content with pushing through updates during half-term and weekends, developers Epic Games have taken servers offline today (April 15), slap bang in the middle of the Easter holidays. For parents who were hoping Fortnite would continue distracting their kids, my heart goes out to you.

Usually, Fortnite gives players a heads-up about downtime, but this time felt a bit off. While some expected a break for an April Fool’s update, Epic Games kept things quiet until the last minute. Even leakers struggled to stay ahead of the curve. That said, Chapter 6 Season 2 brought plenty of content, including several Mortal Kombat-themed locations.

Now, Fortnite is down again. This one wasn’t clearly announced in advance, but it’s likely to be a short server shutdown with a solid payoff - especially for players who enjoy fast-paced action on smaller maps, similar to Call of Duty: Warzone.

The downtime kicked off at 11am today, as confirmed by the @FortniteStatus Twitter account. Matchmaking was disabled 30 minutes earlier to let ongoing games wrap up. While Epic's website estimated the servers would be offline for about an hour, recent updates have sometimes taken longer.

There’s not much packed into this update. According to one leaker on X, @ShiinaBR, “we won’t see any new cosmetics in the flash update.” Instead, the hotfix is aimed at addressing current issues in the game, though Epic hasn’t detailed exactly what it's fixing.

However, when servers come back online, players will get access to the new Reload map called Slurp Rush. It looks like shields will be easy to find on this map - quite the contrast from Fortnite OG, which only just brought back small shield pots.