Long queue times had plagued the mode since the moment it was release
Fortnite ’s Playground Mode was released today as part of patch v4.5. Sort of. The mode was out for about an hour and a half and despite some pretty long queue times, people seemed to be having a good time. But, in order to make a few quick improvements on the queues, Epic took the mode down for repairs.
The Playground is closed for repairs while we investigate some issues with our matchmaking services. https://t.co/8xBpgCayKZ
The reason behind the queue times is that each lobby of Playground gets its own space on Epic’s servers, rather than the game being hosted locally if it’s just for one or two players. While this provides a much smoother experience for players, it also means a much bigger load for Epic’s servers. In fact, Epic tweeted a notice about long queue times just a few minutes after the mode first launched.
But, it seems that things still weren’t quite working as Epic had intended, so we’ll have to go back to our boring, Playground-less lives at least for a little bit. Hopefully, after Epic brings the mode back online, its matchmaking functions will be improved and the queue times will be a little shorter. Until then, it’s back to regular Battle Royale.
For more information about when exactly the mode might come back, you can check out Epic’s status report page .
