The trio of Swizzy, Queasy and Merstach won the Global Championship of the Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) 2025, securing three Victory Royales and accumulating 61 eliminations over 12 games.

Appearing on Sept. 7, 2025, at the LDLC Arena in Lyon-Décines, France, the FNCS 2025 Global Championship featured a trios format, with 33 top teams from around the world competing for a $2,001,000 prize pool.

The winners, Egor “Swizzy” Luciko (Russia), Aleksa “Queasy” Cvetkovic (Serbia) and Andrejs “Merstach” Piratovs (Latvia), who are currently playing for Gentle Mates, Twisted Minds and Gentle Mates, respectively, claimed $450,000 for first place.

FNCS 2025 became the 19th season of the Fortnite Champion Series. It introduced changes to the qualifier system while continuing with the major format from 2023 and 2024. Instead of qualifiers with upper and lower brackets, in 2025, the play-in stage led into the group stage, which qualified 33 teams for the regional finals. At the regional tournaments, the best players qualified for the international tournament.

Second place, with a prize of $300,000, was claimed by Vanyak3kk, Pixie and MariusCOW, while third place, with a prize of $225,000, was taken by the trio of Setty, Japko and Panzer, followed by IDrop, Charyy and Kami, who claimed $180,000 for fourth place.

The other trios also claimed winnings proportional to their respective places, with amounts ranging from $135,000 for fifth place down to $9,000 for 33rd place.

On June 16, Fortnite announced that it is removing the Bass Boost Gloves, Krypto Treats and Tracking Visor in Fortnite tournaments. The post did not provide a reason why they are being removed but clarified that the items will still be usable in Ranked play. Fortnite has not clarified whether this removal is temporary or permanent. 

These three items all provide different use cases, but Bass Boost Gloves’ removal will affect the movement of players. Replies under the post are already complaining about the loss of the item, as it is vital equipment when it comes to rotating around the map.

Sentiment concerning the change has been mixed, with some players welcoming the limitations and others only wishing for nerfs and not the complete removal of the item. Without the Bass Boost Gloves, the only movement options for players are dashes.

It remains to be seen how large a meta change will happen due to the removal of these three items. FNCS Divisions 1 to 3 are about to happen as of the writing of this article, and this might give players an idea as to where the meta is headed.

Fortnite Season 4 approaches, hinted at by the comet hurtling toward Dusty Depot in Fortnite’s latest teaser trailer, revealed in a social media post. Fortnite OG Chapter 1 Season 3 concludes on June 7 at 2 pm ET, according to GameRant, who references the OG Pass end date. 

The soaring comet showcased in the trailer is a direct reference to the destruction of Dusty Depot in the original Season 3 of Fortnite. The comet’s inevitable impact could be seen progressively drawing closer as the season progressed. Its impact marked the conclusion of Season 3, changing the very terrain and transitioning the game into Season 4.

As for the meteorite that crashed on the island, it holds mysteries pivotal to the lore of Fortnite. The Fortnite Wiki Page provides a story overview following the teased trailer.

Fortnite OG revisits the previous seasons of Fortnite, allowing players to experience a long-lost version of the battle royale. The developers kept many of the iconic gameplay mechanics that have since been removed from the early seasons of Fortnite while implementing a number of quality-of-life changes to polish the experience.

Fortnite’s upcoming Sabrina Carpenter in-game dance event begins on May 30 at 3 pm ET and concludes on June 16 at 11:59 pm ET. To promote artistic expression, Epic Games is allowing content creators to monetize VODs of Dance with Sabrina on YouTube until June 6 at 3 pm ET – content of this nature would otherwise be demonitized due to borrowed music licenses. Here are Epic Games’ official instructions for monetization: 

• Link your YouTube and Support-A-Creator accounts.
• When uploading the content to YouTube, upload it as Unlisted or Public. 
• For uploading the content on other platforms, refer to the channel’s platform policies for tips on how to avoid copyright strikes.

If the user receives a claim while uploading on YouTube, a short delay is to be expected when processing the release of the claim.

“During this time, please do not dispute the claim,” Epic urges creators. Epic stated that they cannot prevent VODs or clips on Twitch from being flagged by third-party copyright detection systems. 

The event allows players to dance alongside an in-game musical performance from Fortnite’s Sabrina Carpenter model; dancing on beat fills the player’s heart meter. At the end of each song, the dancer with the most heart gets a chance to contribute to the show as a Dance Leader, Special Effects Pro, or Video Artist. Epic Game’s official blog post has further details regarding the exclusive rewards for participating and winning in the event.  

Darth Jar Jar is officially the hardest Jedi to unlock in Fortnite, requiring players to earn 1.28 million XP prior to gaining access to the Sith Lord in the shop. The XP must be obtained between May 16 and June 6 to unlock the ability to purchase. The cosmetic costs 1,500 V-Bucks, which is roughly $13. 

Purchasing Darth Jar Jar grants the following styles: 

• Default
• Hood off
• Cape off

Outside of the extra styles alongside the typical Lego iteration, no additional accessories are included with the purchase. Fortnite’s Darth Jar Jar wears a scowl uncharacteristic of the character in the canonical universe, drawing inspiration from fan theories regarding the character where Jar Jar is speculated to have been the true Sith Lord controlling all the happenings of the universe. 

Having the character locked behind XP is not unprecedented since Epic has done something similar in the past. But this marks the first time a heavily marketed character has been locked behind XP progression. Darth Jar Jar was highlighted on major promotional trailers and visuals. 

The Star Wars collaboration has two more major updates coming, with the next being “Mandalorian Rising.” The update arrives on May 22, and “Star Destroyer Bombardment” lands on May 29. This all leads up to the ultimate “Death Star Sabotage” on June 7.

Implemented in an update that released May 16, Fortnite’s Darth Vader can now talk with players thanks to the use of generative AI. Upon recruiting Darth Vader, players can use their mic to discuss any topic of their liking. 

The in-game AI uses the voice of the late James Earl Jones, but it was caught swearing by numerous sources. In streamer VODs, he is shown using the “F” word. 

“What freaking f**king food is that Darth Vader,” Streamer LoserFruit asks the AI model, questioning the character’s favorite meal. “Freaking f**king… Such vulgarity does not become you, Padme. You inquire about sustenance, yet speak like a common thug,” AI Vader wittily responds. 

Upon being notified of the use of profanity, Epic Games quickly hotfixed the foul-mouthed Vader; he received an update 30 minutes into the patch update. 

The use of Jones’ voice has been approved by his family. 

“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character,” Jones’ family shared in an official statement from Epic.

Fortnite’s Darth Vader uses Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 audio model. Fortnite Mobile was supposed to have been released earlier this week for iOS devices, but Apple is hindering the process.

The Star Wars collaboration has two more major updates coming, with the next being “Mandalorian Rising.” The update arrives on May 22, and “Star Destroyer Bombardment” lands on May 29. This all leads up to the ultimate “Death Star Sabotage” on June 7.

Fortnite servers crashed on May 12 at 3:59 pm PST — during the Star Wars collaboration, which brought an influx of new and returning players. According to the official social media page, players were experiencing matchmaking and login errors, locking them out of playing the game.

Epic Games managed to get the servers up and running again 30 minutes after the announcement. Though it isn’t uncommon for Fortnite to experience minor bugs and glitches, a crash to this scale occurs every couple of months; the usual errors come from specific device and platform optimizations.

“We’ll continue to monitor this to ensure no other issues occur,” Epic Games shared. They have not revealed the exact cause for the widespread crash. No rewards were handed out as compensation for the crash.

Fortnite indicates its server communications with color-coded social media posts; red indicates a big issue, while yellow is used for less severe bugs. Green means the problem has been solved.

The crash occurred on May 12, during Fortnite’s Star Wars collaboration. There are two more updates coming, with the next being “Mandalorian Rising.” The update arrives on May 22, and “Star Destroyer Bombardment” arrives on May 29. This all leads up to the ultimate “Death Star Sabotage” on June 7.

Epic Games is holding an event for its Epic Rewards program, where in-game purchases yield a 20% return starting on May 9. The purchase must be made on the following titles: Fortnite, Rocket League or Fall Guys. The microtransactions must be made on PC, iOS, Android or the web. The 20% Epic Rewards last until Aug. 31.

Shortly after the 20% Epic Rewards return was announced, the Fortnite shop crashed. For a brief while, the shop could only showcase bundles and packs; the rest of the shop was unavailable. At the time of writing, Fortnite’s in-game shop is functional once again. 

Fortnite Mobile was slated to return this week, but it appears the official launch is still in process, as indicated by a post on social media. On May 9, it stated, “We’ve submitted Fortnite to Apple for review so we can launch on the App Store in the U.S.” No Fortnite iOS release date was announced. Epic Games’ decision to offer Epic Rewards coincides with Apple’s legally forced decision to reintroduce Fortnite to the iOS store.

In 2020, Epic Games essentially attempted to bypass both Google’s and Apple’s app store payment systems, prompting both tech companies to remove Fortnite from their app stores.

The Epic Games v. Apple cases started in 2021 when Epic Games deliberately tried to circumvent Apple’s restrictions on apps having off-app purchases. This resulted in Fortnite getting banned in the App Store. What followed was Epic filing a lawsuit against Apple and the latter filing a countersuit.

The judge ruled in favor of Apple during the 2021 lawsuit; however, Apple was ordered to remove all anticompetitive practices in the App Store. Epic filed another lawsuit against Apple in 2024, saying that Apple’s update was not sufficient.

Epic Games is adding Mace Windu, Darth Maul, Han Solo, Leia and Luke on May 8 as a part of Fortnite’s continued updates for the Star Wars collaboration. The news was officially announced via a cinematic gameplay teaser for Pull of the Force. Each character serves a different role in the battle royale, with both Mace Windu and Darth Maul granting players Jedi powers.

Talking to Mace Windu grants the player his iconic purple lightsaber alongside the ability to cast Force Pull. This means Jedi now have the option to learn either Force Push, thanks to Rey’s teachings, or Force Pull, courtesy of Mace Windu. 

As for the Sith, Darth Maul grants a red lightsaber with the Force Throw ability, which allows the player to throw around objects to deal damage. They also have access to Force Lightning via Palpatine and Force Saber Throw from the Darth Vader boss. All Jedi can Force Jump, which negates fall damage, and sprint faster while wielding a lightsaber. 

These hologram Jedi teachers appear randomly throughout the map; a Reddit user compiled the spawn locations below.

Han Solo brings a new quest to the map. Luke and Leia’s roles in the battle royale have not been revealed. 

May brought a wave of Star Wars excitement with “Imperial Takeover” on May 2. This upcoming update is called “The Pull of the Force” and is releasing on May 8. There are two more updates coming thereafter, known as “Mandalorian Rising” on May 22 and “Star Destroyer Bombardment” on May 29. This all leads up to the ultimate “Death Star Sabotage” on June 7.

Fortnite is rumored to be adding companions as the next cosmetic type, which will follow players in-game. The information was posted by HypeX on X, who sources another user: Andredotuasset, also known as Andre. 

According to Andre, the companion will be visible to everyone in the owners’ party, inferring that it will not be visible for enemies. The Fortnite companions will have a separate loadout slot, thereby opening opportunities for various customization options. If this information is true, players will not have to worry about their customizable Fortnite companions giving away their positioning. 

As of May 5, 2025, no official announcement regarding Fortnite companions has been made; therefore, no release date is currently known. If the leak comes to fruition, Epic Games will have implemented yet another medium for cosmetic creation, opening up the possibility of various “pet-like” collaborations. 

Fortnite is currently celebrating its Star Wars collaboration, which features lightsaber combat, exclusive in-game events and Darth Jar Jar. To acquire a lightsaber, players must discover either Darth Sidious or Rey, who spawn at random instances, typically found in grassfields or other open areas.