Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2 launch delayed due to last-minute snag

Today's long-awaited arrival of Greek gods and legendary lands on the Fortnite battle royale Island is taking a little longer than planned, developer Epic Games has now said.

Chapter 5 Season 2: Myths and Mortals was set to go live this morning, UK time, but will now launch at 10pm tonight at the earliest.

This is due to a last-minute issue discovered during the game's still-ongoing downtime today, which will take at least the rest of the UK day to resolve.

"Hey everyone, we encountered an unexpected issue during our maintenance and we need to extend downtime at least eight additional hours," Epic Games wrote via its Fortnite Support account on social media platform X.

"We apologise for making everyone wait longer than usual to drop into Chapter 5 Season 2 of Battle Royale. The team is working through this as quickly as possible, and we'll provide another update when we have more info."

Downtime for Fortnite is unusual, other than a brief intermission of a few hours between seasons (and longer waits as the game shifts maps in between Chapters, typically following a cataclysmic on-Island event).

The launch of Myths and Mortals has been hotly-anticipated, with last week's enormous hand and Pandora's Box live event setting the stage for a markedly different new season.

Epic Games has this morning detailed much of what players should expect - namely, Greek gods to play as in the game's battle pass and encounter on the map as boss characters, who drop Medallions that grant gameplay-changing effects. There are new powers to wield in battle, such as the Thunderbolt of Zeus you can rain down on opponents, and a power-up that grants the ability to fly: the Wings of Icarus.

Swathes of the battle royale Island map have also changed, with a huge new Mount Olympus location, and a creepy-looking Underworld complete with flowing Styx.

It's been a busy week for Epic Games, which announced its Apple developer account had been blocked - scuppering its initial plans for Fortnite to return to iPhones in Europe. The EU is now investigating.