Fortnite Chapter 6 is closing out with Zero Hour, a one-off, in-game finale that folds together a year of crossovers and teases for Chapter 7. If you want to see it live, timing and preparation matter.
Fortnite Zero Hour date, start time, and lobby opening
Zero Hour takes place on Saturday, November 29, 2025. The actual event begins at 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT, but the special event lobby opens earlier so players can get in without fighting queues.
| Region | Local date | Lobby opens | Event start |
|---|---|---|---|
| US West (PT) | Nov 29 | 10:20 AM PT | 11:00 AM PT |
| US East (ET) | Nov 29 | 1:20 PM ET | 2:00 PM ET |
| UK (GMT) | Nov 29 | 6:20 PM GMT | 7:00 PM GMT |
| Central Europe (CET) | Nov 29 | 7:20 PM CET | 8:00 PM CET |
| Russia (MSK) | Nov 29 | 9:20 PM MSK | 10:00 PM MSK |
| Brazil (BRT) | Nov 29 | 3:20 PM BRT | 4:00 PM BRT |
| India (IST) | Nov 30 | 12:10 AM IST | 12:30 AM IST |
| Philippines (Manila) | Nov 30 | 2:20 AM | 3:00 AM |
| China (CST) | Nov 30 | 2:20 AM CST | 3:00 AM CST |
| Japan (JST) | Nov 30 | 3:20 AM JST | 4:00 AM JST |
| Australia (AEDT) | Nov 30 | 5:20 AM AEDT | 6:00 AM AEDT |
| New Zealand (NZDT) | Nov 30 | 7:20 AM NZDT | 8:00 AM NZDT |
Those times line up with the in-game countdown that is already visible in Fortnite’s lobby and on the Battle Royale island.
How to join the Fortnite Zero Hour live event
Zero Hour runs in its own limited-time experience rather than regular Battle Royale or Zero Build. Joining it is straightforward, but you need to be early:
- Launch Fortnite on your usual platform well before the lobby opening time for your region.
- From the main screen, open the Discover tab.
- Look for the dedicated Zero Hour (or Chapter Finale) event tile and select it.
- Queue into the event lobby solo or with your squad and stay in until the event starts.
During the event itself, movement and actions are usually heavily scripted so players can focus on the cinematic sequences and interactive moments instead of standard combat or building.
Tip: Treat the lobby opening time as the deadline, not the event time. Being online and in the Fortnite lobby a full 30–40 minutes ahead gives you the best chance to avoid login queues and connection errors.
Early playtests for the Chapter 6 finale
Before the real finale, Epic is running public stress tests for the event server tech. These are separate from Zero Hour itself.
| Test dates | Early access window | Playlist name | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 20–21, 2025 | 1:40 PM ET / 10:40 AM PT | Epic Event Test | 80,000 XP (granted later in the week) |
To take part, you launch Fortnite during that window, select the Epic Event Test playlist on the main screen, and play through the test session. These tests do not show the real Zero Hour content and are designed to avoid spoilers while pushing the servers.
What Zero Hour is expected to feature
Zero Hour is framed as the capstone for everything that happened in Chapter 6. The teaser footage and in-game hints point to a crossover-heavy, “everyone is here” kind of finale:
- Kaiju and titans: Godzilla and Kong are shown squaring off on the island.
- The Simpsons: A giant Homer Simpson — doughnut in hand — looms over the battlefield, extending the current Simpsons season.
- Star Wars: X-wings streak across the sky, adding another layer to the mashup.
- Power Rangers: A Megazord-style mech appears in the brawl.
- Returning protagonists: Jonesy and Hope are positioned as the central heroes of the event.
- Main antagonist: The Dark Presence, the demonic entity from the Spirit Realm that has been driving Chapter 6’s story, is set up as the final threat.
On top of that, Zero Hour doubles as a soft launch for Chapter 7. The trailer and key art highlight The Bride from Kill Bill, riding a motorbike and cutting through the chaos. Her appearance, paired with the return of drivable bikes, lines up with Chapter 7 leaks and promotional art that place her on the next Battle Pass and suggest motorcycles will be part of the new season’s core mobility.
How Zero Hour connects to the rest of Chapter 6
Chapter 6 has already relied on several live events and transitions:
- Simpsons live event and mini-season: A separate Simpsons x Fortnite finale hit on November 1, 2025, leading into the current Springfield-focused phase.
- Season 1’s Oni and demon arc: Earlier in the chapter, the story centered on the Zero Point fragment pulling demons and underworld warriors onto a new island. Characters like Jade and Daigo, along with Hope and Vengeance Jones, fought to close dimensional rifts.
Zero Hour folds those narrative threads together with 2025’s avalanche of collaborations, using Jonesy, Hope, and the Dark Presence to anchor a finale that still makes sense if you’ve only dipped into parts of the chapter.
What happens after the Zero Hour event ends
When Zero Hour wraps, Fortnite will not immediately bounce you back into the usual playlist carousel.
- Temporary downtime: Expect servers to go offline for several hours while Chapter 7 is deployed. Recent chapter transitions have typically taken roughly 3–5 hours.
- Chapter 7 launch: Once the game comes back up, the island layout, loot pool, and Battle Pass rotate to the first season of Chapter 7, with Kill Bill content, the return of bikes, and the re-emergence of The Seven all positioned as early anchors.
During downtime, matchmaking is disabled, so plan on Zero Hour being the last thing you do in Chapter 6.
For a one-shot event like this, the main things that matter are timing and patience: be in the lobby well before your regional queue opens, stay in the dedicated Zero Hour playlist once you’ve joined, and be ready for the game to go dark for a while afterward. Everything else — from Godzilla and Kong to Homer and The Bride — is there to do what Fortnite finales have done for years: turn a season wrap-up into a shared spectacle.
