Battle royale game Fortnite disrupted for 7 hours due to 'stability issues'

Epic Games Inc.'s Fortnite was down for roughly seven hours on Wednesday, after two weeks of server issues. 

The game began Chapter 3 with major changes and started posing problems for players logging in on Wednesday at 11 a.m. (New York time). Game servers remained offline due to "stability issues" until 7 p.m., according to Fortnite Status' Twitter account. 

The online battle royale game has more than 350 million registered users and is the world's most popular video game. It is currently running a Winterfest event that rewards players for spending time in the game and completing quests that had led to a surge in demand.

The Winterfest began on December 16 and will end January 6.

"Fortnite is currently unavailable, and players are unable to log in while we investigate an issue. We'll provide more info when we have a solution to bring services back online," tweeted Fortnite Status.

At 1:13 p.m. Epic Games said it was investigating "an issue," and promised to share more information once it had a solution to the problem.

Another tweet at 3:10 p.m. from the team said they were "continuing to work on a fix that will bring Fortnite back online and appreciate everyone's patience." 

At around 6:30 p.m., players reported the game was working again.

The company started investigating the issue at around 11 a.m, before the servers went offline entirely a couple of hours later.

Players started raising complaints when the game placed them in a queue for ten minutes and then failed to connect.

Among the prizes on offer for the Winterfest are a pair of new outfits and additional bonus items for Fortnite Crew subscribers.

Fortnite Status eventually tweeted to confirm the game is back up, and there will be details on "what we're doing to help you make up for lost time.