The recent launch of Fortnite Season 5 has brought its own new array of bugs and glitches that are occasionally causing issues for some players as they load into the game. One of these bugs that leave players waiting seemingly forever between matches has recently been passed around online as more and more players run into it, with Epic Games opening up about the status of the issue.
While many of the reports of the new bug first showed up online only among players, Epic Games recently posted that it is aware of the issue. At the time of this writing, there doesn't appear to be a fix for the issue from Epic Games yet, and there is not a consistent workaround aside from restarting Fortnite and trying again.
After the launch of Season 5, many console players have been experiencing abnormally long load times, sometimes leaving players on the loading screen indefinitely. It appears that this issue is only appearing on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, meaning that Switch and PC players shouldn't be as heavily affected by the bug. Additionally, the infinite loads seem to be occurring after players finish a match, so it may be best to exit Fortnite - either back to matchmaking or all the way back to home - between matches.
Epic Games has committed to providing an update when the issue is resolved, but it seems like the issue might be more complex than a simple patch. It's possible that the issue's prevalence on consoles, aside from the Nintendo Switch, is making a quick fix harder. For now, playing consecutive matches might be a little more difficult for the first couple sessions in Fortnite Season 5, until Epic Games can pinpoint and patch out the issue.
These kinds of errors are nothing new for huge titles like Fortnite when launching a new update or expansion as large as Season 5. Fortunately, this recent glitch isn't game-breaking, even if it may be frustrating. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved soon for console players, but there are some solutions.
Fortnite is Free-to-Play on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X.