Fortnite Probably Isn't Dead, But Players Can't Help But Wonder What's Next

Over the weekend, Fortnite ended. I don't mean that in a figurative, symbolic sense of some bygone golden era or anything-a giant explosion created a blackhole at the center of Fortnite's universe, sucking in the island, the battle bus, and every ramshackle piece of cover. All that's left is the gaping maw of the abyss, and theories as to what might come next.

Epic has been teasing "The End" for some time now, both through files leakers have discovered and through this season's nostalgic setting. If you were plugged into the lore or even just general Fortnite leaks discourse, you had a hunch that this is how the season would end. But the way it played out was a lot more than some might have expected.

Yesterday afternoon, players who were logged into Fortnite were treated with a special event. Fortnite's hosted live events like concerts before, but in this one, a massive explosion set off a chain reaction at the core of the island, and a black hole consumed all of Fortnite. You can watch it in high definition below, courtesy of YouTuber Chaos. (There's a little bit of waiting, so jump ahead to 2:30 if you want to see it when the action starts.)

The massive black hole at the center of Fortnite wasn't just limited to the game, either. Players loitering in the menus were treated to their own breakdown of Fortnite.

Right now, if you log onto Fortnite, all you'll find is a black hole. The Fortnite Twitch account is just streaming the endless void; its Twitter account deleted most of its tweets and went dark. To an outsider, it really does look like the end of Fortnite.

But Fortnite is a massive game; esports consultant Rod Breslau screen-capped when the game hit six million concurrent viewers on Twitch. Any cursory search of social media or news will bring up fans wondering where Fortnite has gone. And of course, plenty of good end-of-the-world memes.

Fortnite's likely not gone forever, but where does it go now? Twitch has dedicated its own Twitch channel to hosting various streamers discussing live theories, with a countdown timer showing just how long Fortnite has been "gone." Even if you believe that this is part of a new beginning for Fortnite, just listening to some of the big theorizing going on is pretty fun.

"I have to agree with you at this point, I don't think it's a black hole," says one Twitch streamer responding to their chat in the background as I type this up.. "I think we think it is."

"I genuinely can't believe Epic has had the game offline this long," says popular Fortnite streamer DrLupo, before jokingly telling parents to get their kids to do chores during the downtime.

Only Epic knows what's next for Fortnite after literally wiping the universe, but this has been a pretty big power move. What other game would literally make an event about destroying its entire universe, wiping away everything, and making the game unplayable? I'm not a Fortnite player myself, but even I'm intrigued to see what's next for the massive battle royale.