Fortnite Death Star Sabotage event live: our coverage of the Star Wars live event and the new season launch
Fortnite Galactic Battle is now coming to an end, culminating in a live event later today (June 7). Death Star Sabotage will cap off this Star Wars mini-season, tasking players with jumping into X-Wings and TIE Fighters for a space battle. This will hopefully lead into some downtime for the next season, which is expected to be Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3.
Epic Games has been busy teasing the next season of Fortnite over the last week or so, but so far we’ve only had details on the live event that’s set to start later today. If early signs are anything to go on, the upcoming Star Wars live event in Fortnite could be a real high point for Chapter 6 so far. We’ll get to fly some X-Wings, take down the Death Star, and save the Island from certain destruction.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed Fortnite Galactic Battle, with the blaster-only weapon pool being a refreshing change from the norm. I’ve been dropping in as the Star Wars updates have released, checking out the new Battle Pass skins and testing the new Star Destroyer portals. In my opinion, the recent changes have absolutely been good enough to keep Fortnite in TechRadar’s best free games list.
Here’s TechRadar’s coverage of the launch of Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, including my live impressions of the Death Star Sabotage live event as it happens.
Only have time for the basics? Here are the most important things to know about Fortnite Galactic Battle ending:
- Start time: June 7 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 7PM BST
- New event: Death Star Sabotage
- Servers open: 9AM PT / 12PM ET / 5PM BST
- Servers close: “Intel states that you’ll have a short window of time on June 7 when the Death Star will be most susceptible to attack”
- Rumored theme for Season 3: “Super”
Fortnite Death Star Sabotage start date and time
Fortnite Death Star Sabotage live event kicks off today (June 7) at 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 7PM BST. The event itself will enter the Discovery section two hours prior to this, meaning it’ll be available to join at the following times:
- US (West Coast): 9AM PT
- US (East Coast): 12AM ET
- United Kingdom: 5PM BST
- Europe: 6PM CEST
Fortnite next season release date and time
Epic Games is yet to detail the next season of Fortnite, but we expect it to arrive following downtime once the live event has ended. In the past, downtime has lasted 2-5 hours on average, though has run a lot longer between Chapters. As such, we’d expect Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 to star on June 7 at some point, though we’ll need more info before we can be certain.
Fortnite next season downtime estimate
Epic Games is yet to detail Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, though we expect it to arrive following downtime. This downtime will kick in after the Death Star Sabotage live event has ended. In previous seasons, this has been just 30 minutes after the live event has started. As such, my prediction for when downtime will take Fortnite offline is June 7 at 12PM PT / 3PM ET / 8PM BST.
Of course, this is just an estimation based on how things have worked in the past. Stay tuned for updates later today, once I hear more from Epic Games.
What to expect from the next Fortnite Season
Official details on the next season of Fortnite are scarce currently, but some prominent leakers have claimed that Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 will be superhero themed. In this Tweet from @HYPEX you can see that Superman skins have been leaked. This would make sense as a tie-in for the new movie coming out later in July.
Elsewhere, we have leaker @Shiina tweeting a summary of recent leaks for Chapter 6, also pointing to a superhero theme coming in next update. Of course, these details are in no way confirmed yet, however I’ve found these two sources to be reliable in the past, especially in the days leading up to a new season launch. We’ll have to wait and see whether rumors of a “Super” season comes to fruition.
Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 map changes
As you can see from the image above, there were four new major POIs (points of interest) added alongside the Fortnite Galactic Battle. While Epic is yet to reveal the map for Chapter 6 Season 3, we can expect these Star Wars locations to change. Whether they revert to their Season 2 states, or are updated alongside the new season’s theme, will be revealed later today.
Fortnite Death Star Sabotage trailer
The Final Showdown: Death Star Sabotage | Fortnite Galactic Battle Gameplay Trailer – YouTube
The full cinematic trailer for Fortnite Death Star Sabotage debuted during The Game Awards on June 6. This shows some space battle-action, as players pilot X-Wings and TIE Fighters in a bid to stop the Death Star from destroying Battle Royale Island. It’s embedded above so be sure to check it out.
As a freelance games writer, it’s my job to stay up to date with the latest games, especially live service titles like Fortnite. I’ve put hundreds of hours into the game at this point, having jumped on during Fortnite Vibing. Since then, I’ve particularly enjoyed the Fortnite OG seasons, which gave me the opportunity to experience older seasons of Fortnite that I missed the first time around. Hopefully, this upcoming Star Wars live event will be a great send off for what I’ve found to be a brilliant Season. As for what comes next, I’m interested to see if the rumors of a superhero Season hold true.
