Fornite may be planning a major event to send Chapter 3 Season 4 that could lead to the servers going offline in transition to Season 5. Fortnite players are likely well familiar with the different ways Epic Games shifts from season to season. Sometimes there's no event, like with the conclusion of Season 3. Sometimes events occur and transition seamlessly into the next season of Fortnite. Taking servers down in Fortnite, however, traditionally implies a more substantial change.
Players will recall major Fortnite season transitions by their dramatic offline time. The Black Hole is an especially notable Fortnite seasonal transition, part of the battle royale's The End event. The Frozen Meteor crashed into Fortnite's Zero Point, leading to a Black Hole loading screen while servers were offline for over 37 hours. When the Black Hole disappeared, Fortnite Chapter 1 had ended and Fortnite Chapter 2 had begun.
There's no indication that the upcoming ending event for Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 will be as big as the Black Hole, but it does imply something exciting is coming. According to frequent leaker Tom Henderson, Epic's current plan is to host a season-ending event followed by Fortnite's servers going offline. Unfortunately, the description of what will happen is somewhat unclear. Henderson says on December 3 an event will conclude with "gameplay being disabled." Then, "around 12 hours later," a patch will drop for Fortnite 23.00, followed by another 4 hours of server downtime.
According to Henderson's description, the chain of events will start with Fortnite's Chapter 3 Season 4 ending, lead to 12 hours of disabled gameplay, and concludes with 4 hours of server downtime. If Henderson's report is accurate, it's a very odd situation. What Epic is planning is a complete mystery, but 16 hours with Fortnite gameplay being disabled is plenty of time for some significant happenings.
It should be reiterated that the report about Fortnite's Chapter 3 Season 4 ending is only a rumor at this point. Henderson's previous report on the same subject, for example, said the season would end on December 5. Plans can change or be canceled and Epic is particularly known for shifting things around frequently. In other words, don't be surprised if the details surrounding Season 4's end are different than this rumor.
If there's anything to take away from the rumor, it's that there's an indication that Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 should be something exciting to watch out for. After Season 3 being especially underwhelming in terms of storytelling and major events, Epic could be preparing to escalate things in Fortnite in Season 5 at the start of December.
Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/X, and mobile devices.