When is the next Fortnite update? New launch time revealed after Epic delays Fortnitemares Halloween event

Epic Games has delayed Fortnite’s heavily anticipated update that was supposed to mark the start of the fan-favourite Fortnitemares event.

An annual tradition, the Halloween festivities see players transforming into iconic horror characters to complete spooky new quests. 

The inaugural Fortnitemares event began in 2017 and has since become a mainstay in Fortnite, with each iteration bringing a fresh batch of tricks and treats, including plenty of new skins.

While this year’s event was originally slated for today, Epic has announced that the update behind it is being pushed back.

Here’s when you can expect Fortnite downtime to begin and the new content to go live.

Fortunately, you don’t have to wait long for the Halloween event. Fortnite downtime for update v31.40, as it’s officially known, will commence on the morning of Saturday, October 12 at 2am ET (7am BST), roughly 22 hours later than planned.

Epic initially tweeted that it was delaying the update by a few hours “while we continue final preparations”. However, it later added that it was pushing it back even further to the new time and apologised for the “confusion and delay”.

It’s safe to say that players weren’t happy with the news. Some fans demanded V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency) as compensation for the longer wait. Others refused to believe that Epic couldn’t get the update ready before the original downtime. 

As a result of the delayed update, Fortnitemares may not start until around 4am to 5am ET (9am-10am BST). 

While Epic has not indicated when the game’s servers will come back online, downtime for Fortnite typically lasts two to three hours for smaller updates like the upcoming one.

At least players can take solace from the fact that this year’s Fortnitemares event is still happening earlier than normal. In the first three years, the event kicked off closer to Halloween – between October 21-29 – though the date has fluctuated since then.

To get players in the Halloween spirit, Epic has already started adding ghoulish items to the Fortnite shop, including a creepy Billy the puppet skin and bundle from the gruesome Saw movies. There are also other eerie outfits, such as the Skull Ranger and Trooper, Nitehare and the mummified Seth skin – all of which come with Lego variants.

You can also currently buy a glowing Pumpkin Basher drum kit and Strummy Mummy guitar for the musical Fortnite Festival mode.

But, that’s just a sampling of what Epic has in store for the coming weeks. The developer has also teased a Leatherface skin, based on the deranged killer from Tobe Hooper’s seminal low-budget horror movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

There’s also speculation about potential skins for DIsney villains Captain Hook, Maleficent, and Cruella de Vil.

Several new points of interest and landmarks may be coming to the map, as well, along with plenty of scary mini-games in the Discover playlist.