What is the Big Bang in Fortnite — Fortnite Countdown Explained

It’s almost time for the next big Fortnite event, and if you’ve booted up the game lately, you’d know it’s hard not to know something’s coming. When you go to the lobby, there’s an off-center countdown steadily ticking away, backdropped by an interstellar image of several black holes consuming everything.

If you look at the news bulletins in the lobby, you’d see the countdown is corresponding with an event called “The Big Bang,” and it has something to do with the rapper Eminem. But, what is this Big Bang, and what impacts will it have on the Fortnite universe? Let’s recap all confirmed information!

What is the Big Bang in Fortnite?

It’d seem as if “The Big Bang” is the next playable Fortnite event taking place on December 2 at 2PM ET. According to Epic Games, the event will feature “an appearance by Eminem,” though it’s not clear if this will be another virtual concert a la what happened with Ariana Grande and Travis Scott. Though if I were a betting man, I’d say a performance is extremely likely.

In-universe, the Big Bang event is very clearly meant to mark an end to Fortnite OG and move on with the game’s ongoing story. We can tell thanks to the previously announced end date and time for Fortnite OG, which also happens to be December 2 at 10PM ET. 

So, this event will likely end with some kind of cataclysm that resets the Fortnite island in much the same way that Chapter 1: Season X ended with the Blackout. Though, I don’t know if I’d expect the game to be unplayable for 36 hours like it was back then.