Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6: map changes, live event UK time, when is the new update – and server downtime

Today (16 March) will see the next season of Fortnite’s Chapter 2.

With each new season, developers Epic Games bring massive content drops, which can often affect the fabric of the game to such an extent, they actually change how it plays.

So what can fans expect with the upcoming Season 6?

Here is everything you need to know.

When is Chapter 2 Season 6?

Chapter 2 Season 6 launches on Tuesday 16 March.

It will kick off with the “explosive” conclusion of the events of Season 5, which will be wrapped up through a solo experience called the Zero Crisis Finale.

Unlike your usual Fornite experience and in-game events – which to this point have been solely multiplayer, online affairs – the Zero Crisis Finale can be played through it whenever you first log in during Season 6.

It will show players the conclusion of Agent Jones’ mission, and if you’d rather watch it online rather than play through it yourself (or skip it entirely!) you will be able to do so; the developers are promising their “most ambitious story cinematic yet”.

The game’s social media channels have revealed a countdown for the story cinematic premiere that ends at 9am GMT on Tuesday 16 March. This should be after downtime for the game has finished.

Epic Games are also encouraging players to spend their Gold Bars ahead of the new season, as players’ caches of Bars will be reset at the end of Season 5 “to make room for exciting improvements in Chapter 2 Season 6.”

"Exotic Weapon prices have never been lower!” they say. “Characters on the Island have recently increased their stock of Exotics and are now exchanging them for Bars at a huge discount.

What is the end of season event?

As is tradition, Fortnite Season 5 will be coming to a close with an in-game event, which will cap off the previous few months’ meta-narrative and explain changes coming to the game in the sixth instalment.

As mentioned, what's different this time is that the Season 5 finale is a single-player affair, Fortnite’s first single player end-of-season event.

It will continue Chapter 2’s Agent Jones’ storyline, and give players’ hints as to what they might be able to expect further into Season 6.

Since it’s a single-player experience, the season finale should be much easier to access.

Since Fortnite’s previous finales have required players to log on to servers to enjoy the online experience – and since the game’s player base is so massive' many disappointed fans have simply missed out from joining in in the past.

The single-player finale should ensure that everyone can enjoy the new event.

What will be new?

As always, little is known about what could be new with the next season of Fortnite (the fun is in the guessing!), but there have been a number of tantalising clues as to what players might find when they log on.

Epic Games has described the Zero Point Crisis as "changing reality” on the island “forever”, which hints that some major changes – particularly to the game's map – could be on the way.

And of course, leakers and data miners have been working overtime, pouring through the game’s files and hunting out all the clues they can from fan message boards and obscure regional Twitter accounts.

One leaker uncovered what could be the game's new PlayStation home screen icon, which contains hints of cube-like runes…

Could Kevin the Cube – which first appeared in Season 5 of the game’s first chapter and had the ability to teleport, absorb energy and manipulate the landscape – be making a return? Many fans certainly think so.

What time will Season 6 be available?

Though the date of Season 6’s arrival has been confirmed by Epic Games, the exact time that the update will go live online for players to download has not.

Epic don’t tend to state what time their updates are scheduled to go live, but they do seem to follow a pretty regular pattern.

Previous new seasons have all launched around the same time, so it’s fairly safe to assume that players in the UK can expect the update around 9am GMT.

Servers will likely be down for a couple of hours before this time while the changes are implemented, but should be up and running once that all important time rolls around.