It appears that Fortnite’s servers went down, less than an hour before its in-world premiere of a clip from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is due to air at Risky Reels.

Downdetector.com lists Fortnite as reporting problems beginning at 1 p.m. EST. Social media is alight with messages saying folks are having trouble logging in across the board.

Shout to to @FortniteGame for having there servers go down RIGHT before THE ONLY EVENT OF THE SEASON SO FAR. #fortnitedown #fortnite get your shit together! pic.twitter.com/P77yhWvCUx — PerryGoRound (@daundertoker) December 14, 2019

Fortnite’s official Twitter account for server status acknowledged the problems at 1:30 p.m.

We are investigating issues with login services. You may experience issues when attempting to log in or making purchases during this time.



We will provide an update when we have more information, thank you for your patience. — Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) December 14, 2019

We’ve reached out to an Epic Games representative to ask what is going on and for more details. Sit tight.

The gates of Risky Reels, Fortnite’s in-world drive-in, were due to open at 1:30 p.m. to screen a clip from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which opens in theaters on Dec. 20. Director J.J. Abrams will be involved in the screening, per a teaser from Thursday night’s The Game Awards 2019.

Loot is on the line with this event, too. Anyone who participates gets a free TIE Fighter glider. There are a couple of Star Wars skins for sale in the in-game marketplace, too.

Update: Players are now able to access the game, and an in-world message from The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley acknowledged the large numbers attempting to log into the game was causing difficulty. A count of viewers on streaming services show some 3 million people alone are watching there.

An Epic Games rep said all players will get the TIE glider, whether or not they attended (or were able to) the screening.

Wow! Unprecedented demand to get into Fortnite. We had to delay until 2:10 PM ET to let in more players.



Thanks for your patience, as a thank you, everyone will get the glider! — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 14, 2019

Update 2:30 p.m. EST: The in-game event began around 2:14, with a big flyover from the Millennium Falcon, harassed by a squadron of TIE Fighters after the Empire jumped into system.

J.J. Abrams showed up in world to parley with Keighley and a very obnoxious Stormtrooper, before the clip was shown. It involved Rey, Finn and Poe sneaking aboard some First Order vessel and Rey using a Jedi mind trick. Notably, she was carrying her pike from The Force Awakens, not a lightsaber.

After the event, the Falcon zoomed off and Emperor Palpatine growled some evil stuff about the day of the Sith being at hand. Fortnite players were given a lightsaber in their choice of favorite color.