Operation Sky Fire marks the end of Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 7, and a countdown timer has appeared in the lobby to signal the season’s final days. Fortnite Season 7 has been an exciting one, to say the least. Not counting the large-scale alien invasion, Chapter 2 Season 7 brought us yet another DC Comics crossover with the addition of Superman, an Among Us-like Impostors mode, and an exciting Ariana Grande concert. It’s been quite the ride, but now it’s time to say goodbye to Season 7 and hello to Season 8. Here’s everything you need to know about the Operation Sky Fire event in Fortnite.
When is the Fortnite Operation Sky Fire Live Event?
Operation Sky Fire will start at 1 PM PT/4 PM ET on Sunday, September 12 according to Epic Games. A countdown timer has appeared in the Fortnite lobby leading up to the event. The event playlist will be available 30 minutes prior to the official start time, so you can log in and get ready for the event as early as 12:30 PM PT/3:30 PM ET.
The Mothership's sights are set on the IO's base. Slone has a plan to end the Invasion for good. Are you ready?
Prepare for the live event, Operation: Sky Fire on Sep 12 at 4 PM ET.
❤️ this post to be reminded when the Event is live pic.twitter.com/wqRwQ9jgdf
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) September 3, 2021
How to Play the Operation Sky Fire Event in Fortnite
To take part in the Operation Sky Fire event, all you have to do is log into Fortnite at the right time and select the correct playlist. The event supports up to 16 players, so you can bring a ton of friends with you when the time comes. Unlike the Ariana Grande concert, this event will not have reruns or replays, so make sure you log in at the right time.
What is Operation Sky Fire?
Operation Sky Fire is a live event that will transition Fortnite from Chapter 2 Season 7 to Season 8. This season’s storyline saw Doctor Slone fighting back against the Alien invaders and investigating a potential mole within the Imagined Order. Operation Sky Fire is the final step in Slone’s battle against the Aliens.
According to @FortniteFR, the Operation: Skyfire event is gonna be interactive! pic.twitter.com/77GpO723rA
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) September 3, 2021
This event will see players joining a strike team to sneak aboard the Alien Mothership. It’s still unclear exactly what the objective will be once players make it inside, but Epic has said this is “IO’s final message to the invading Aliens.” Whatever is going to happen, it doesn’t sound too good for the invaders. This event will be fully interactive like the Zero Crisis Finale and Galactus event, so expect to do some shooting and puzzle solving.
When Does Downtime Begin for Season 8?
Downtime will begin immediately after the event ends. This hasn’t been confirmed by Epic Games yet, likely in an attempt to avoid spoilers, but leakers and dataminers have discovered that the Fortnite servers will go down for maintenance after the event ends. Epic Games has also stated that replays for this event will not be available after it ends, and replays only become unavailable after a new update is released, basically confirming an update will happen after Operation Sky Fire.
Alright, Epic did not even try to hide this. So here's something about the event.
(IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON'T READ THE NEXT LINE.)
After the event, we will instantly enter a downtime.
— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) August 31, 2021
The last two events to do this were the Galactus Event that closed out Chapter 2 Season 4 and The End event that transitioned Fortnite from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. That means something big is going to happen during this event. The Galactus event brought significant changes to the map and exposed the Zero Point, paving the way for the dozens of crossovers the game has received this year. The End event destroyed the original Chapter 1 map entirely.
Chapter 2 Season 8 will likely have a radically different map, especially if the battle against the aliens takes a turn for the worse. They’ve already started to destroy named POIs like Coral Castle and Slurpy Swamp, and their abductions could significantly ramp up during Operation Sky Fire.
When Does Chapter 2 Season 8 Begin?
Whatever happens, the downtime will likely be quite lengthy, as Chapter 2 Season 8 officially begins the day after the event on Monday, September 13. The Fortnite servers typically come back online in the middle of the night, so expect to wait 10 or so hours. After the Galactus event, for example, Chapter 2 Season 5 began at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET, which was a full 12 hours after the event ended. Expect this event to follow a similar schedule leading up to Chapter 2 Season 8.
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