When will Fortnite return for Chapter 5 Season 1

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 will return on December 3, 2023. The downtime is still scheduled to occur after 11:30 pm Eastern Time on December 2, 2023. As such, this would last for about nine hours before the servers are brought online again. Based on previous updates, Chapter 5 Season 1 should begin by 8:30 am Eastern Time. However, Epic Games has already taken the servers offline for the time being.

This has been done owing to the large influx of players. The Big Bang Live Event broke the internet and the game's client as well. Since then, users have been stuck and unable to log back into the game.

Given the situation, many are speculating that Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 will not return until December 4, 2023. While this may sound plausible, it's unlikely to happen for several reasons.

Note: Some aspects of this article are speculative in nature.

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When does Fortnite come back online

The reason for no delays is that Epic Games has sent Creators official mails. At the bottom of the mail, a sentence reads:

"Battle Royale Chapter 5 will be live on Sunday, December 3."

This confirms there will be no delays. Additionally, LEGO will be released on December 7, and Rocket Racing will be introduced on December 8. Fortnite Festival will also kick off a day later on December 9, with the headline act being The Weeknd.

Given these new modes are confirmed to arrive in the coming week, Epic Games cannot afford to delay Chapter 5 Season 1. In case of any delays, proceedings will start later than anticipated on December 3. Since players in the Eastern Time Zone will be able to log into the game before mid-day, the majority will not miss out on the updates.

However, players from Asia, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand will have to wait until the morning of December 4 to play Chapter 5 Season 1.

Also read: How to get the Clawz retro back bling for free in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1

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When would Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 end?

According to leakers/data-miners, Chapter 5 Season 1 will end on March 8, 2024. As of writing, this is the speculated timeline based on information found within the files. The official time will be revealed once the Battle Pass has been showcased.

Even so, this date is subject to change based on several factors. Given past precedence, it could happen again. However, these are rare instances, and Epic Games provides a heads-up before making the changes. They even provide Supercharged XP to help players complete the Battle Pass sooner.