Fortnite's new season is delayed due to tech issues

As is always the case between seasons, Epic Games took Fortnite offline early on Friday to perform some maintenance and get the game ready for all the new stuff fans are about to enjoy. While the downtime typically lasts a few hours, Epic has encountered a problem that's forcing it to delay the start of Chapter 5 Season 2.

"Hey everyone, we encountered an unexpected issue during our maintenance and we need to extend downtime at least 8 additional hours," a 9:14AM ET post on the Fortnite Status X account read. "We apologize for making everyone wait longer than usual to drop into Chapter 5 Season 2 of Battle Royale. The team is working through this as quickly as possible, and we’ll provide another update when we have more info."

Epic provided an update at 4PM, letting fans know that work to bring the game back online was ongoing. "Players will be able to pre-download an updated version of v29.00 in approximately 5 hours," it said. "We’re grateful for your patience and can’t wait for everyone to be able to jump in." That means players won't be able to hop into the new season until at least 9PM, meaning Fortnite will have been offline for around 18 hours.

The delay is a bit of a pity as the new season looks pretty compelling. It's called Myths and Mortals and it's focused on Greek gods. Along with earning skins for the likes of Aphrodite, Medusa and Poseidon through the battle pass, you can wield mythical powers such as Zeus' lightning bolts and the Wings of Icarus. Epic has added some intriguing new areas to the island as well, including Mount Olympus and Hades' Underworld. A spooky-looking version of the River Styx, which is guarded by Cerberus, leads up to the latter.

Update 3/8 4:40PM ET: Added more details about how long the technical issues are taking to resolve.