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The black hole event is something that every veteran Fortnite player remembers. The event served as a conclusion to Chapter 1 and was incredible. Besides spectacular visual effects and an amazing story, this event was incredible from a marketing perspective. Donald Mustard, former director of Fortnite, recently revealed what went behind the scenes at the end of Chapter 1.
Mustard was in charge of Fortnite for many years, and the last season he worked on was Chapter 3 Season 3. Despite no longer being with Epic Games, the former executive has fond memories of his tenure with the company and all the amazing things he achieved there.
This is why Fortnite was down after the black hole event
Epic Games went out with a bang at the end of Fortnite Chapter 1, literally. The Zero Point imploded, sucking the entire world into a black hole. What followed was an absolute masterpiece by Epic and Donald Mustard. Right after the event ended, the entire game turned into a black hole. Players were unable to play for a day and a half, and many of them thought that Fortnite was done.
“This is a live service game,” Donald Mustard recalled during his interview with Game File. “We’re never gonna have a sequel. So, how do I do a sequel without doing a sequel?”
“Take the game offline. Make people miss it, and bring it back just different enough for what would be Fortnite Chapter 2.”
Donald Mustard
The 47-year-old video game designer had a fantastic idea, and most of the company supported him. Mustard revealed that the marketing team was skeptical, but in the end, everyone was on the same page. Interestingly, he even suggested taking Fortnite down for an entire month, although he knew that it wasn’t going to be that long.
“I just wanted it to be three days,” Mustard added. “So, over six months, we were planning this crazy thing, and I let them whittle it down to exactly what I wanted in the first place.” In the end, the downtime lasted approximately 37 hours, making it the longest downtime in Fortnite history.
Mustard’s interview gave us insights into a few other things, including a potential Fortnite x Nintendo collaboration. In the meantime, it appears that a couple of future Fortnite seasons have been leaked, as well as a LEGO Fortnite Battle Pass.
