'Fortnite' cryptic Black Hole mystery ends as familiar maintenance screen returns

It has been little over a day since "Fortnite" players encountered something unexpected to herald the end of its Season 10. Gamers who were actively playing and those who were in the menu were treated to what has been dubbed the Black Hole mystery by the internet.

This appears to be an odd choice for Epic Games after it ended the previous seasons with massive events and big changes to the map. In the meantime, others are claiming it is a brilliant form of publicity from the developers. However, the cryptic display finally ended and took players back to the familiar screen indicating the ongoing maintenance.

Those anticipating a new activity to close out season 10 were instead booted from the playing field after a big explosion. This left gamers helplessly floating while the island was destroyed and eventually turned into a black hole that even sucked in their "Fortnite" avatars. What followed was a big question mark as casual and professional players alike were literally left in the dark. Journalists can only guess as to the impact this scenario has on fans.

A recent report from Kotaku, confirms that the mysterious screen is no longer online. Those who are logging in are now greeted by the "Fortnite" logo across a blue background with some text informing users to try and log back in at a later time. The article even pokes fun at everyone who wasted more than 35 hours looking at a glorified screensaver.

Moreover, Epic Games purportedly deleted more than 12,000 tweets from the battle royale shooter's official Twitter account. CNet reports that in the aftermath, Elon Musk even posted a message implying that he bought the franchise and deleted everything. All official "Fortnite" channels likewise showed the same empty screen with the black hole in the middle.

On the other hand, SkinTrackerCom, a data miner, unearthed a trailer for the following season's Battle Pass. The footage previews some of the new content, such as new watercraft, new skins and new ways to level up among other things.

Social media platforms have been showing people complaining about not being able to play, while others are simply applauding it as another publicity stunt. Nevertheless, the "Fortnite" community was collectively left dumbfounded. Now that the loading screen is officially back, gamers can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the next chapter prepares to unfold.