Fortnite Big Bang encore times and live event queue times

UPDATE: Fortnite is back online after a period of unplanned maintenance due to increased demand. With the game back online, Epic has confirmed plans to hold an encore Big Bang event at 4am GMT UK time on December 3. This will be followed by server downtime for the launch of Chapter 5. Unfortunately, however, it looks like fans will still have to queue to get a game, with waiting times of around 30 minutes at the time of writing.

ORIGINAL: Fortnite developer Epic Games has confirmed that the game is experiencing server and performance issues as part of the Big Bang event. With the end of OG season event proving incredibly popular among fans, Fortnite servers are struggling to keep up with demand. The good news is that Epic is aware of the issues, and has announced plans to repeat the event two more times before the start of the next season.

In a recent post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Epic Games said that the server issues escalated faster than expected.

“Well that escalated quickly. Whether you’re in the lobby or in a queue, fear not!” reads an Epic tweet. “We’ll be adding two more showings of The Big Bang after the 2pm ET show.”

Unfortunately, however, in a follow-up post, Epic said that matchmaking and login issues have continued to cause problems with fans trying to get online.

“We are aware players may be experiencing general performance degradation including matchmaking and login issues,” reads another Epic post.

“We will provide an update when we have more information.”

The Big Bang event featured a performance by iconic rapper Eminem. It brings to an end the hugely popular OG season, which attracted over 100 million players in November.

Fans who missed out on the OG season will be pleased to hear that the classic map will return in 2024.

“Ngl the OG season far exceeded our expectations,” Epic said. “So much so that we’d like to bring it back… *opens 2024 roadmap doc*

“In the meantime, see you on the Battle Bus.”