Fortnite reaches The End, and more tech news you need to know today - Android

Your tech digest, by way of the DGiT Daily newsletter, for Monday, October 14.

1. Fortnite’s epic stunt

Fortnite players witnessed another event in the world’s biggest multiplayer game: no game at all. This normally would not be big news but Fortnite really is gone, for now. See:

• A cosmic explosion by a meteor destroyed the island on the map, and destroyed the game itself, meaning that now there is nothing but a black hole.
• Here is someone reacting to when it all went down (Twitter).
• At the time of writing, Fortnite is no longer playable and it’s just a black hole being streamed.
• Gamers looking to log on and play are greeted by a “technical difficulties” dialogue.
• And Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, are really going for a convincing look.
• All but one of its 12,000 tweets on its @Fortnite account are gone, linking to a YouTube livestream of the swirling black hole, while its Instagram account was wiped as well.
• Over on Twitch, the entire category of Fortnite no longer exists, with but one official stream of the black hole.

So what’s going on?!

• Well, as far as fun new ideas go, this is pretty far up there.
• Fortnite is still the most important game of the moment but interest has been waning, as could normally be expected, and as this Google Trends graph shows:

• These events and their orchestration are really next level operation, and Fortnite is still able to take gaming into strange new places. It is a little weird that taking a game offline could be seen as exciting and fun, and it’s possible only Fortnite could pull it off.
• But there will be a new season. It might even be a new ‘Chapter’, called Chapter 2. Season
• People are digging into various intentional leaks, hints, and clues to figure out the end of the Fortnite Blackout.
• One of those was an update sent to iOS devices that was more than 5GB, a huge update for the game and an indication of new stuff to come.
• In the meantime, of course people like Elon Musk are doing Elon Musk things, and the Italian App Store seems like it accidentally leaked new Fortnite details, including a whole new map.
• Another leak suggested The End Of Fortnite will actually end on Tuesday at 6am EST, but it all feels a bit like covering smartphone leaks: some things are true, some things are false, but what we know is we are getting a new smartphone new Fortnite.
• Read more over on Android Authority, especially if you want to know more about Fortnite Chaper 2.
• But the main message is: gaming is changing rapidly.

2. The Pixel 4 launches tomorrow in New York City, but there’s still time to complete every last possible leak: now the box and accessories (Android Authority).