All Fortnite Seasons: Full Timeline From Chapter 1 till Now

Fortnite has come a long way since its first release. The storyline has gone to crazy places over the years. In Fortnite, all seasons are broken up into chapters, with the seasons’ dates being closer together than you might realize. When a new season releases, huge changes occur in the game, completely reworking how the title’s mechanics work and feel. Fortnite is known for adding new elements only to take them away when a new season comes out. This means that each new season can easily become a brand-new game!

The current build of Fortnite has got the game divided into Creative, Battle Royale, Lego, Rocket Racing, Festival… and a lot more. In 2024, we got Fall Guys creative as its own thing. Now, two more Battle Royale modes, Reload and OG. A very long way from where the game started. Even in Battle Royale, Fortnite has multiple seasons running at once.

How exactly did we get here, though? All of the Fortnite seasons have continued on the storyline, added new content, and their length and timeline might not be how you remember.

© Epic Games / Esports.net

Full Fortnite Timeline: All Seasons in Order of Release

The list below shows all Fortnite’s seasons to date. Clearly, Fortnite has come from a small game in Season 1 to the juggernaut that Fortnite currently is now: midway through a sixth Chapter.

Seasons, Chapters, and Modes Keep Reinventing the Game

Along the way, we’ve had loads of expansions, with Fortnite becoming a platform for various experiences. Now Fortnite is home to tons of games. Even Battle Royale is a multitude. We first revisited the early days last year in the Fortnite OG season, followed by the late-2024 seeing Fortnite Remix flashback to Chapter 2. Followed up by the first ten seasons returning again as a permanent rotating nostalgia mode. The naming of the season is odd at times, with the tenth Season randomly ditching numbers for numerals, then completely abandoning that idea just months later!

New Chapters only run in a specific format now, moving to a once-a-year schedule since Chapter 3 launched. That feels like it’s how things will work going forward since Chapter 6 is now here just a year after the last map. Previously, these short runs were to move us onto newer Unreal Engine iterations. Although, at the moment they seem to be moving on yearly purely for hype.

The meta of the game changes just as often with the season. The best Fortnite players in Chapter 6 aren’t the same as those who killed it in the early days. Looking through Fortnite all season end dates, we can really see how far the game’s come.

The Current Chapter: Fortnite Chapter 6

One of the most recent updates to the game was the launch of Chapter 6. Beginning in Season 1, Chapter 6 is a Japanese-themed season. Before Season 2 brought in a ton of heist mechanics. Then the next season was a mini one, focusing entirely on Star Wars! However, with future seasons we’ll likely see other themes creep their way into the map too.

Source: Epic

From Parkour to OG Mode: Fortnite’s Big Shifts in Chapter 6

One of the biggest changes to Fortnite Chapter in Chapter 6 has been mobility. The game’s received numerous new mobility mechanics, like wall scrambling and rolling. It’s added this whole Parkour element to navigating the map. We’ve also seen OG return as a proper mode too, for those who want a more stripped-back experience year-round out of Fortnite.

Then, in the Mini Season the mobility got changed again. We moved into a Star Wars season and two of the mobility mechanics were vaulted again. This wasn’t an unpopular move. Players were constantly accidentally activating the wall kick. Now it’s gone, we’ve just got the mechanics that actually added something!

Chapter 6 Season 2

The new Fortnite season has begun, Chapter 6 Season 2. This new season is showing off everything the game can do running on Unreal’s latest engine. The game now has a mishmash of themes on the map once again. We’ve still got plenty of that Chapter 5 Japanese influence, including some of scenic areas like the mountains. But now with a gritty urban crime area imposed on top.

One of the big changes with Chapter 6 Season 2 is way more objectives that aren’t part of the normal Battle Royale gameplay loop. Breaking into a vault is now a much longer affair. You don’t just get your loot from it either. You instead get a token to go to another location to then trade in to get your loot. It can mean you have to be wary of third parties in a lot more situations. You’ll also be doing the opening of the game for a lot longer.

Image Credit: Epic

The Current Season: Chapter 6 Mini Season 1

The latest Fortnite season has broken from the recent trends! Instead of moving into Chapter 6 Season 3, we’ve gotten a mini season. It’s a collab season that stands on its own. Like Remix and OG, it’s a season that is just over a month long with something a bit different.

In terms of numbering, it’s quite a break. The mini season typically comes at the end of the Chapter, so the season numbers aren’t a bit issue. This one is being officially termed Chapter 6 mini season 1 though. So, we’ll finish this season and move on to Chapter 6 Season 3 proper. Why a mini season now though?

It’s a full Star Wars collab. There are new items, and loads of Star Wars skins coming. We’ve even had all of the Fortnite weapons replaced with blasters. Out of all Fortnite seasons, we’ve previously seen a handful of full collabs with Marvel. Star Wars is typically an event in May. So, it makes sense to do this collab season now, even if it comes mid-Chapter. Collab seasons can wear out their welcome too, so a mini season is a nicer structure for one.

Source: Epic

The current season is going to be running through May. The C6 weapons are still pretty exciting. Like the trend in recent Fortnite seasons though, there’s a lot more spam weapons in the loot pool still too.

Fortnite Chapter 5: The Biggest Shifts

With Chapter 5 of Fortnite, we stepped into an even wider world. In Battle Royale we got a new map, weapon mods, and even old walking was completely changed. (Briefly, thankfully the Fortnite movement changes were quickly reversed). The new version of the game felt entirely different. All players got completely fresh animations for different movement along with all of the new features in the game. Some of the biggest changes came outside of Battle Royale though.

New Games Within Fortnite

Fortnite has gotten three new games:

• Lego mode: reminiscent of Minecraft
• Fortnite Festival: a rhythm game
• Rocket Racing: A racing mode

Some of these game modes even have their own counts for Fortnite seasons! Plus, in August 2024, Fall Guys joined that list. Not as a full game, but with some fun Creative maps to explore.

Fortnite is far from just a Battle Royale anymore and it looks like it’s only going to grow from here.

Chapter 5 Season 2 expanded all areas of the game. We got more to do in Lego, time trials in Racing, and tons of fun new Battle Royale content. Check out what was introduced in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2. New seasons bring more new content than ever before.

• Season 3 brought in some crazy changes to the meta with cars becoming really important.
• Season 4 in some ways returned to more traditional gameplay, but with ridiculous OP Marvel Mythic items thrown in for good measure. Fortnite is never static for very long.
• Fortnite Remix took us back to Chapter 2, but with some clear twists. We got rapper collabs taking over key POIs in the map. The gameplay turned back to the simpler Chapter 2 meta, with Pumps, Rocket Launchers, and other now missing items back. However, the collabs all over the map make it feel definitely more modern Fortnite than Chapter 2 did.

Source: Epic Games, Lego

How Fortnite Has Evolved Through All Seasons and Chapters

Fortnite seasons and Chapters are all just dividing lines in the game, but what exactly do they mean for gameplay?

• For most, Fortnite seasons can be a big change and a different theme for the game’s direction. Some Seasons have very consistent Fortnite themes with updates taking the game in a unique direction which might just get dropped in the next month.
• A good example is Chapter 2 Season 6 where Epic rammed crafting mechanics into the title, only to ditch it entirely for the new alien-themed season next time around.
• Another example is Chapter 5 Season 3 becoming Car Royale, before the next season was a Superhero take over. After this, even wider changes came, as we went back to Chapter 2 for a season before a new map arrived with Chapter 6.

Even in Chapter 6, the game has had a completely different feel from one season to the next. It’s complete change every time the Fortnite season ends and a new one begins.

Image Credit: Epic Games

New Chapters, New Mechanics, Find it in Fortnite

Sometimes, the new changes in the game for a season aren’t ditched though. There are some changes which push-through seasons and permanently change the game. New mechanics like parkour, sprinting, and even Zero Build modes have been added over time and stuck around. Zero Build in particular might be the biggest development, splitting Fortnite off into different strands after it debuted in Chapter 3 Season 2. This has built significantly on what came before.

Chapter 4 introduced Augments, Fortnite’s answer to perks. They were gone again in Chapter 5 though, with mod benches now a new mechanic. The became pretty much irrelevant by the last season of the Chapter but they give C5 a unique feel.

All that progress got put on ice when we returned back to Chapter 1! It was a popular but brief revival before we moved on to something entirely fresh. With Chapter 5 introducing tons of new features, Chapter 6 went even further with newer mechanics. Fortnite leaks show even more are coming soon.

Perhaps the biggest recent change is Fortnite becoming a platform. It’s now home to lots of different modes, not just a Battle Royale game. This is even reflected in the game’s new tagline: “Find it in Fortnite”.

Source: Epic Games

Map Changes

Changing seasons and chapters is another way for Epic Games to drastically change the map. Since players are routinely dropping onto the same island, it’s good for them to provide some variety. By changing the map around in each season and drastically again in each chapter, they provide the community with some diversity in the game. Each Chapter has a fresh start with a brand new map too.

While the physical items that fill a role change with Fortnite seasons, often those innovations are in the game to stay. Shopping carts and quad crashers weren’t in every season. They paved the way for Ballers, Choppas, Boats, and eventually the cars and then tanks that roam the map. Items that came to add diversity to the loot pool might not stay every season. But they’ve largely influenced how the loot pool is viewed and what kind of variety Epic tries to provide.

While we can look at the length of all Fortnite seasons and chapters, the game has developed gradually and isn’t too recognizable from where it started. Putting aside our brief return to the OG map and then the Remix of Chapter 2, of course! Our new Chapter 6 map is maybe the most polished ever, and its art style is the most vibrant we’ve seen. A major improvement on Chapter 5’s washed out look.

Source: Epic Games

What are Fortnite Seasons?

Fortnite seasons are dividing points between different eras of the game. With each new season, we see massive map changes, weapon changes, new Fortnite esports events, and a brand-new Battle Pass.

New Content

Since Fortnite is an ongoing game that is constantly updated, seasons are an opportunity to add a lot of new content into the game at once. Fortnite Season 1 was just the starting point.

Season Themes

All Fortnite’s seasons also tend to be structured around a theme now, with a bit of lore to discover alongside it. More recent seasons have even had subtitles that spelled out the theme, like ‘Primal’ in Chapter 2 Season 6. The current season’s theme is “Lawless”, it’s another heists-based season.

Each season should feel like something new for the game, and the changeover is often the big event that gets the most people talking about Fortnite. It’s fun that a season you don’t like is always over quickly enough. Even if it means your favourite season might leave before you’d like.

What Season is it in Fortnite?

Right now, it is Fortnite Chapter 6 Mini Season 1, our third (almost) on a new map with a new set of weapons and mechanics. With Chapters only being a year-long, it’s impressive the game still feels so different from Chapter to Chapter.

Ever since Chapter 1’s finale, Epic has shortened each Chapter.

• Chapter 2 lasted eight seasons
• Chapter 3, 4, and 5 each only lasted four.

That seemingly wasn’t linked or reflecting of the changing Fortnite player count, just a decision to change things up. Chapter 4 seemingly came early thanks to upgrades to Unreal Engine, as did Chapter 5. Although, Chapter 5 too has ended after only 4 Seasons without an engine change to point to.

All Fortnite seasons can vary quite widely in length! An average Fortnite Season is 80 days long.

Source: Epic Games

How Long is a Fortnite Season Typically?

The Fortnite seasons’ timeline show how far the game has come. Now six chapters in, each season feels pretty unique still from what’s come before. However, looking at a full timeline it’s clear how inconsistent the lengths of each season actually are! Even without counting the mini-seasons Fortnite OG and Remix, there’s been great variety:

• In Chapter 1, the number of days was 72 and in Chapter 2 it was higher, with 97 days. Both of those averages are raised quite a bit by the lengthy Chapter 2 Season 1 and Season 2.
• Chapter 3 had an average of 90.5 days. Chapter 4 had an average of 83.5 days. However, the OG mini-season would throw that off. Since this is just an event, not a numbered season it’s debatable if this counts. We’ll exclude this since it’s more of a halfway house between two seasons than a full-fledged installment.
• Chapter 5 was one of the most stable. It had an average of 83 days. Just like the Chapter before it’s weighed by a lengthier Season 1. This first season of the new Chapter 5 ran for 97 days, Season 2 ran for 75, 3 hit 84, and 4 ran for 78. Remix was under 30 days old at its end date. These are our landmark seasons for length.

The Shortest and Longest Seasons

• The shortest Fortnite season, so far, is Fortnite OG, being just 29 days long.
• The longest Fortnite season is Chapter 2 Season 1, which lasted for 128 days.
• Chapter 3 Season 1 ran for a while with its first season too.
• Chapter 5 Season 1 was also longer than average. However, it doesn’t look like anything is going to claim that tile from Fortnite’s never-ending C2 S1 – made even longer-living as Remix has kind of brought back early Chapter 2.

Source: Epic Games

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