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A few hours ago, my boys came up to me and said. Fortnite is gone. I replied..."What?" Yeah, Dad, it's been replaced by a black hole. My son was led to believe that the Fortnite game administrators had announced a new map and suddenly the game came to an abrupt end. A look at Fornite's feeds across social media reveal nothing but black screen after black screen. So, is this the end of Fornite? It's hard to say if Fortnite's estimated 250 million (source) users are out of luck and the Fortnite game has come to an end, after all of the related channels of the game/feeds went dark. It's a black hole that could have a global impact on its users. But is this a marketing ploy? Is it a way to create a buzz around the game as the Fortnite admin simply rolls out the latest version? To answer this question, it is probably helpful to look at the owner/maker of the Fortnite game and speculate based on what the game owners hav done in the past. In October of last year, Epic Games cashed in on Fortnite at the staggering 1.25 Billion dollar mark according to the NY Times (source). So, a short year later generating a black screen for all of its gamers is not a likely move unless they are creating a "hungrier market." Anticipation makes the heart grow fonder and if the company were to time the new release fast enough, this could catapult a higher level of activity on Fornite. But has the gaming company ever done something like this in the past? I couldn't find evidence of it, so this indeed could be a new tool in their marketing arsenal. Beyond a marketing punch, what else could have led to the disappearance of the game? Did Fornite get hacked? Not likely. Let's say that the site / IP(s) that host Fornite did get hacked. That would mean that the servers that run the game were hacked and or compromised. Considering the size of the game and the need for redundancies in supporting the platform (along with the best and brightest working on the backend of the game), it is highly unlikely. And, even if it were hacked, the Fornite hack would not result in the change of all of their social media profiles to a black profile screen. Why? Simple. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are hosted on separate servers. A breach of all of those servers plus the game servers at the same time is simply improbable. I'm not a math genius, but statistically speaking, it would be virtually impossible. To think that all of the social media outlets were hacked and this were the only thing that the perpetrators wanted to accomplish is highly unlikely. What should Fornite Players Do Now? For most Fortnite players, now is simply the time to "wait." It's been speculated that Fortnite is quite an addictive game. So, it will be interesting to see how the majority of Fornite Frequenters react on an emotional level. What happens to the Career E-sport Fortnite Pro-Gamers? If you are a pro-gamer, and your livelihood depends on Fortnite, then you will probably want to take mandatory time off and reflect on how you set yourself up in the future. While Fortnite Pros could simply start looking to other games to continue their careers, it will be important to create a strategy for yourself moving forward that doesn't cost you "everything" if the platform you use to make money goes away. One of my mentors likes to make money online and in the virtual world and invest in the physical world by buying assets (stocks, real estate, etc.). The disappearance of Fortnite and the like can spell disaster for individuals who make a living streaming their games. A cooling off period would be wise to make sure that the next. Has Fortnite Been Deleted? As of right now, you can only stare at a black screen, but the game itself does not appear to be deleted. If none of the URLs worked, then I would be more alarmed. Only time will tell, however. When it comes to games of this magnitude, it is highly unlikely that Fortnite has been deleted or is going away permanently. However, considering that there is allegedly a pending lawsuit against the company for not letting parents know that Fortnite is as addictive as Cocaine according to this source, could be the culprit when it comes to why the game is gone "for now." You can read more on USA Today. Here is the source. Has Fortnite been Sued? Is there a Legal Action? According to the source mentioned above, it looks plausible that the company is having to respond to allegations. According to the article the company has 30 days to respond. What does that mean for the players of Fortnite. It means that there is likely going to be at least 30 days before they should expect to be able to play anything if the Fortnite black hole has anything to do with this. How long will Fortnite be Down? When will The New Season Be Released? How Much Downtime Is To Be Expected? How much downtime could online gamers be facing? As mentioned above, if the outage has anything to do with the alleged lawsuit, then the game could be held in limbo until legal has determined an appropriate response/ fix to the allegations. Apparently, this is not the first time that the creators of Fortnite have been involved in legal issues. But this situation may prove to be quite unique. If Fortnite has to prove that the game is not as addicting as cocaine, it will likely need to turn to psychologists and scientists to produce findings that either correlate or deny the claims. I understand that there is even betting going on currently as to when the game will be "live" again, but I believe that if clinical research is needed (or needs to be reviewed) it could prove to take quite a bit of time and could significantly delay the relaunch of the game. If that happens, users may start looking for alternatives and once the company were to get everything dealt with, the market that is available for the game could change. How Long Do Legal Proceeding's Take? We have to consider how long it typically takes to contend with lawsuits. Depending on the laws in the jurisdiction where everything is filed, we could expect there to be a general time set aside for "discovery." This is basically questions, or statements and responses. Typically a timeframe of roughly 20-30 days is normal for the party to have in order to respond to questions or allegations. Likewise, opposing counsel could have the same amount of time to respond to that. While a judge could limit the time this exchange has, depositions could require even more time (think 2-4 months) to gather all of the pertinent recordings and statements. After the "discovery and evidence gathering" phase, the case could go to mediation / arbitration which could delay things for several more months. A trial would also delay things even further. So, the big question that needs to be answered is whether the game's disappearance and this lawsuit have any correlation.