If you're reading this article, chances are you've already realised that Fortnite is offline today (27th July 2021) so that Epic Games can deploy the 17.21 update. You might be wondering what this downtime is all about, then, and how long it will go on for.

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Of course, if you're a long-term Fortnite fan, you'll be quite familiar by now with the regular cadence of updates and downtime in the hugely popular battle royale game.

Even though Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 7 is well underway at this point, Epic Games still needs to take Fortnite offline from time to time for a bit of housekeeping.

And so, to learn everything we know about today's Fortnite downtime, read on for all the official details.

Is Fortnite down now?

Yes, Fortnite is down at the moment. At around 8.30am on Tuesday 27th July, from a UK perspective, the official Fortnite Status Twitter account posted this message: "We're beginning to disable services in preparation for the v17.21 update, with server downtime beginning soon. We’ll let you all know when downtime has ended!"

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If you're ever not sure what the current server status is, you may want to check a couple of places: the community-driven Down Detector website will tell you if other players are having problems, and the official Epic Games website will show you the latest updates from the developers.

Read more:

When will the Fortnite servers come back online?

Downtime like this often goes on for around three hours, so we'd hope to see Fortnite lurching back to life on or around 11.30am UK time on Tuesday 27th July 2021. There shouldn't be too much longer left to wait, then. This isn't an exact science, though, so you might need to be patient!

What's new in the Fortnite update 17.21 patch notes?

In a cryptic Tweet from the official Fortnite Status Twitter account, which gave players prior warning about today's downtime, Epic Games added this teasing line: "Take up the power… of science!"

And then Epic Games revealed the full patch notes for Fortnite update v17.21 - you can click that link for the full lowdown on what's new, which includes a shiny new weapon called the Plasma Cannon.

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