Games often hold special events to celebrate holidays, including kicking off the New Year, but Epic Games surprised everyone with its decision to hold an hourly Fortnite New Years' Party.

Fortnite players across the globe were surprised to see an in-game event celebrating the start of 2019, because many saw the event happen hours before 2019 would actually start in their time zone. Initially, gamers believed that it might have been a bug that caused the event to trigger at the wrong time, but that was quickly busted as the event repeated starting with the next hour. According to Epic Games, in order to celebrate with the entire global fanbase, the developer chose to repeat the New Years' countdown event in Fortnite every hour until the entire planet has moved into the year of 2019.

Players who want to check out the event can expect to see it at the start of every hour until the entire planet has officially moved into 2019. The event is a perfect homage to traditional New Years celebrations, with a Fortnite twist. A giant rift opens in the sky, where a large New Years' Eve disco ball begins to descend, and a 10 second countdown occurs. As soon as the countdown completes, 2019 fireworks burst in the sky and everyone's characters will dance for a few seconds. After the dancing and fireworks end, the game returns to normal until the turn of the next hour.

Fortnite has had plenty to offer fans at the end of the year in holiday cheer. The game has been celebrating Christmas and the winter season with various in-game holiday missions, including one that has players thanking the bus driver responsible for dropping off everyone in the Battle Royale. Fortnite fans should have plenty to keep them busy in the game tonight, but even those who can't login during the celebration can still enjoy some Fortnite New Year celebration goodness, as Fortnite streamer Ninja is also holding a New Years' Fortnite stream on Twitch, playing the game and offering plenty of giveaways to viewers.

Fortnite is available now for Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Source: Fortnite Intel