Fortnite devs respond to infinite loading screen bug in Season 5

Brad Norton
Fortnite Season 5 load screen

If you’ve been jumping into Fortnite Season 5 since the new update rolled around, there’s a good chance you’ve been hit with an infinite loading screen bug. Epic Games is already aware of the critical issue though, so here’s what you need to know.

On the back of a Marvel-centric season that concluded with the biggest in-game event to date, Fortnite Season 5 is finally upon us. Whether you’re checking out the newly revamped map, trying to unlock some Star Wars skins in the Battle Pass, or simply going hands-on with some new weapons, there’s plenty to see and do.

The beginning of a new season always sees a huge spike in interest. Veteran players are often drawn back to the title while newcomers jump in for the very first time. However, there’s a game-breaking bug in the latest update that could just turn you away.

Randomly between games, players have reported what seem to be endless loading screens. You can get caught in the never-ending state, requiring you to reboot the game and start from scratch.

Fortnite Season 5 loading screen
If you’ve noticed some extremely long load times in Season 5, you’re not alone.

“There is a bug where it stays on the loading screen forever and you have to restart Fortnite,” Reddit user ‘SirCrazyLionYT’ revealed. “This happens too many times to count.” Without warning, you could be trapped in a loading screen for a few minutes before realizing the issue.

For now, the problem only seems to occur on console. So if you’re playing on Xbox or PlayStation, you’ll need to be cautious moving forward. Many players have chimed in on the topic, however, having encountered the same frustrating bug.

Given just how common infinite loading screens are in Season 5, Epic is already on the case. “We’re investigating an issue that is causing players to experience long load times after completing a match on PlayStation and Xbox consoles,” the Fortnite Status account shared on December 2. 

In fact, it’s currently the top priority on Fortnite’s official Trello board. There’s no ETA just yet, but these types of bugs are usually dealt with rather quickly. Especially with more people dropping into Fortnite than usual, expect to see loading screens back to normal very soon.

While there’s no workaround for console players just yet, keep your eyes peeled as you transition in and out of games. It could trap you before a match starts, or it could strike after a successful run. There’s no way to prevent it at this point in time.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as a hotfix is deployed to counter the game-breaking bug. In the meantime, your Fortnite session on console might just have you heading to the dashboard a handful of times.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com