Fortnite is going into 2026 with something it rarely offers this far in advance: a full-year roadmap. Epic has laid out every planned update date, hinted at when Chapter 7’s future seasons will land, and pointed directly at the launch window for Chapter 8 at the end of the year.
Fortnite 2026 update schedule (all confirmed dates)
The backbone of the roadmap is a nearly year-long patch cadence. Updates are planned roughly every two weeks, with a few deliberate gaps.
| Month | Planned update dates (2026) |
|---|---|
| January | January 9, January 22 |
| February | February 5, February 19 |
| March | March 5, March 29 |
| April | April 1, April 16, April 30 |
| May | May 14 |
| June | June 4, June 18 |
| July | July 16, July 30 |
| August | August 14 |
| September | September 3, September 17 |
| October | October 1, October 15, October 29 |
| November | November 12, November 28 |
| December | December 10 |
These dates are treated as targets, not guarantees, but they outline the tempo of Chapter 7’s life and the handoff into Chapter 8.
Chapter 7 in 2026: where things stand now
Fortnite entered Chapter 7 with Season 1: Pacific Break, a hard reset for the battle royale formula. The chapter brought a new island, a wave-surfing drop system instead of the traditional Battle Bus dive, and a redesigned Battle Pass that changes how pages unlock and how rewards are claimed.
The opening season has already featured a crossover-heavy approach, including a Simpsons mini-season that drove a noticeable spike in new and returning players. That combination of a fresh map, new progression rules, and aggressive collaborations is the baseline for everything that follows in 2026.
Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 2 start and end window
Chapter 7 Season 1 is set to end on March 4, 2026. The next season starts immediately afterward.
Key dates for the handoff:
- Chapter 7 Season 1 end date: March 4, 2026
- Chapter 7 Season 2 launch date: March 4, 2026
- Supporting updates around that window: March 5 and March 29 on the roadmap
Seasonal switchover downtime historically runs a few hours, but no specific maintenance window is listed for this transition. The new season is expected to keep the broader “Hollywood” flavor that underpins Pacific Break, building on the chapter’s film-inspired theming and prior collaborations like Kill Bill.
What Chapter 7 Season 2 is expected to focus on
Epic has not published a full feature list for Chapter 7 Season 2, but several threads point in the same direction.
Thematic direction: The chapter as a whole leans into Hollywood and cinematic crossovers, so the next season is expected to extend that rather than pivot away from it. The current Battle Pass already leans on movie-style iconography, and the live events that closed Chapter 6 and opened Chapter 7 were framed around blockbuster spectacle.
Map and mechanics: The Season 1 island is already smaller and more tightly structured than the Chapter 6 map, with new named locations such as Sandy Strip, Fore Fields, and Bumpy Bay. Season 2 will be the first big test of how flexible the new layout is, and how far Epic is willing to push the wave-based drop system and reworked reviving/rebooting rules.
Collaborations and events: The 2025/early-2026 pattern has been clear: collaborations are used as anchors for mini-events, event passes, and limited-time loot pools. The roadmap timing around late April and early May suggests another large crossover window, mirroring past years.
Spring 2026: the Star Wars window and mid-season events
The stretch from early March through the end of April is dense with updates, with patches on March 5, March 29, April 1, April 16, and April 30. That cluster lines up with a few recurring beats in Fortnite’s calendar.
Chapter 7 Season 2 runtime: Community expectations place most of Season 2 between the March 5 and April 29 window. That would give the season roughly eight weeks, matching typical modern Fortnite seasons.
Star Wars timing: Fortnite has built a rhythm around Star Wars content in the run-up to May the 4th. The April 30 update sits in the right place on the schedule to deliver another round of Star Wars cosmetics, quests, and potentially a limited-time mode, just ahead of the annual in-game Star Wars event.
Players have been asking for lightsaber pickaxes for years. There is no confirmation that 2026 is the year that finally happens, but the calendar makes this the most likely slot for any new Star Wars mechanics or themed changes to the loot pool.
Summer 2026: the planned content gap and what it signals
The roadmap includes a deliberate pause in the usual two-week cadence during the summer.
After the June 18 update, the next patch is not scheduled until July 16. That gap from June 19 through July 15 breaks the normal pattern and lines up with Epic’s typical internal summer break, where only stability work and emergency fixes tend to land.
For players, that usually means:
- A longer mid-season stretch with fewer mechanical changes.
- In-game events and quests that lean on existing assets rather than big map overhauls.
- More predictable metas, since loot pool shifts slow down during that window.
Once the team is back in July, the July 16 and July 30 updates should restart the quicker cadence and set up whatever late-summer direction Chapter 7 is taking.
Fall 2026: the October mini-season and build-up to Chapter 8
November has quietly turned into a second season peak for Fortnite. For three consecutive years, late October has introduced a short “mini-season” that runs into November, typically focused on a single, high-profile crossover or nostalgia-driven theme. The Simpsons mini-season is the most recent example.
The 2026 roadmap supports that pattern:
- October updates: October 1, October 15, October 29
- Mid-November update: November 12
- Second-to-last major update: November 28
The October 29 to November 28 stretch is the most likely home for another mini-season. The updates at both ends of that run can carry the opening and closing beats, with the November 12 patch handling mid-season tweaks and balance changes.
Within that structure, the November 28 update is expected to do more than just wrap up an event. It is the leading candidate for the launch of Chapter 8.
Fortnite Chapter 8 launch date and what it means
The roadmap, combined with Epic’s own framing of Chapter changeovers, points clearly at the end of November.
Chapter 8 launch window: November 28, 2026 is the expected start of Fortnite Chapter 8 after downtime for the year’s second-to-last update.
Chapter launches in Fortnite are more than just big content drops. They typically bring:
- A completely new island, or a heavily reworked version of the existing one.
- New core traversal or combat mechanics that define the chapter’s identity.
- A fresh Battle Pass built around a new narrative arc and crossover mix.
With Chapter 7 already experimenting with foundational systems like landing, progression, and revives, Chapter 8 has room to either double down on those ideas or pivot again. In previous transitions, Epic has reserved new physics twists, major UI overhauls, or engine-level experiments for chapter starts rather than mid-chapter seasons.
Winterfest 2026 and the final update of the year
The roadmap ends with a single December patch.
Final scheduled update of 2026: December 10
That date lines up with Fortnite’s established Winterfest tradition. The December update is expected to:
- Reopen a Winterfest lodge space with daily presents and login cosmetics.
- Rotate in holiday-themed weapons and items into the loot pool.
- Add limited-time quests tied to snow, decor, or specific winter POIs.
After that, Epic typically goes quiet for the holiday break, with only critical hotfixes until early January. For Chapter 8, that means December is less about big new mechanics and more about seasonal content layered onto whatever foundations the late-November update introduced.
Competitive 2026: FNCS and the broader calendar
Alongside the general update roadmap, Epic has set expectations for competitive play with a dedicated FNCS schedule.
A key detail for 2026 is the inclusion of an “FNCS Major 1 Summit” LAN event in May, separate from the later Global Championship. That structure keeps the year anchored by multiple in-person tournaments rather than a single World Cup-style event. The global championship format remains the flagship endpoint for the competitive year.
For players who care about the esports side, the main takeaway is that FNCS continues to operate on its own calendar, but still depends on the same update cadence and seasonal transitions described above.
How the roadmap changes how you plan your year in Fortnite
With every major 2026 update mapped out, it becomes much easier to decide when to lean in hard and when to take a break.
- Early March is the pivot from Chapter 7 Season 1 to Season 2, with the first big meta reset of the year.
- Late April and early May are positioned for another Star Wars run and larger crossover experiments.
- Late June to mid-July is the content valley, when the game stabilizes and changes slow down.
- Late October to late November is the volatility spike, with a likely mini-season and then the Chapter 8 launch.
- December 10 is the Winterfest switch, trading big mechanical changes for event content and cosmetics.
Epic still tends to layer surprises on top of even the most detailed roadmaps. But with the structure of 2026 this clearly defined—down to specific patch dates and the Chapter 8 launch window—the biggest beats of Fortnite’s year are already visible. The rest will be in how each season, crossover, and live event fills in the gaps between those dates.
