The next Fortnite update could be rather substantial. Chapter 5 Season 3 debuts in just a few days on May 24. The update will change the map, add new characters, introduce a new battle pass, change the loot pool, and so much more. Generally speaking, most season changes are fairly big and take some time. Chapter changes are the biggest, but season flips are not terribly quick, either. The next update will be between seasons, so it won’t carry as much downtime as the OG to Chapter 5 update did. However, a recent leak suggests that there could be more downtime than people expect.

Fortnite Update Could Have Lengthy Downtime

According to leaker HYPEX, a renowned community member who routinely reveals things early, the Chapter 5 Season 3 Fortnite update might surprise people with its size. The downtime is slated for 2 am EST on May 24 according to the leak, which was found in the game files. The description reads, “Patch sizes will be larger than usual.” Therefore, the update and the downtime will likely be worse than people expect.

There is almost always downtime between seasons. This has become the norm for Fortnite, and Chapter 5 Season 3 is not going to stray from that. It’s usually a couple of hours, but it could be much longer this time. There were also extended issues with players being unable to play for almost a full day when Season 2 first dropped, so Epic may be extending the downtime and increasing the patch size to ensure they don’t have that issue again.

The new theme for Chapter 5 Season 3 is Wrecked, which means the map might be destroyed. There will be new POIs, and the existing ones will likely be altered. The weapons will undoubtedly change, as will the characters. That all figures into the update size. Epic hasn’t revealed the size of the update just yet, but they are going ahead and warning players that they need to anticipate more downtime.

Fortunately for those in or around Eastern Time, the update goes live in the middle of the night. So as long as players have auto-updates on, they might be able to play once they wake up that morning.