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Fortnite (game)

'Fortnite' disappeared into a black hole, and fans are freaking out

Brett Molina
USA TODAY

The hit video game "Fortnite" is down, but not for the reasons you might expect.

On Sunday, "Fortnite" became unavailable to play after it was sucked into a virtual black hole, part of an event called "The End" wrapping up Season 10 of the popular game.

The Twitter account for "Fortnite" now features a single tweet: a live video feed of the black hole.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this event: It's not exactly clear when "Fortnite" will be available again. The last several seasons of "Fortnite" have launched on Thursdays, although because of the timing of Season 10's ending, it could happen sooner.

In a tweet posted after the "Fortnite" blackout, Sony said all in-game items and V-bucks, the currency used in the game to buy items like skins, are safe.

Video of the event shows what appear to be projectiles falling from the sky, concluding with a black hole sucking up every single piece of the game, then going dark.

Rod Breslau, an esports consultant, said the event drew more than 6 million concurrent viewers between streaming platforms Twitch and YouTube.

"Epic and Fortnite really have done such an incredible job of creating this entire story and narrative around what would be server maintenance to create what is the most hype I think i’ve ever seen for a video game of all time," said Breslau during an interview with USA TODAY. 

Of course, because it's the internet, fans of "Fortnite" have been making memes to pass the time until the game's eventual return. Even TV series "The Walking Dead" got in on the fun.

So, what's going to happen when this "Fortnite" returns? A leak from the Italian version of Apple's iOS app store suggests the game will introduce a "Chapter 2" with a brand new map, reported video game site Polygon.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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