Fortnite developer Epic Games is about to take the game offline for the launch of the new season. Chapter 5, Season 4 will re-introduce Marvel characters and locations to Fortnite Battle Royale. LEGO Fortnite, Creative, Rocket Racing and Festival will also receive new content as part of the upcoming season. Coming to PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android and PC, update 31.00 will be available to download on the morning of Friday, August 16. The major new update will be accompanied by period of extended server downtime, which means you won't be able to play Fortnite for at least three hours, although due to the amount of new content, probably even longer. You can check out the Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 4 server maintenance schedule below.

READ MORE: Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 4 release date, time, server maintenance, Battle Pass, new map locations

The news was announced in a tweet by Epic Games on X, including exactly when Fortnite will be taken offline, as well as what players can expect from the new season.

"Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3 now ends on August 15th at 11 PM ET, and we’ll go into maintenance for v31.00 shortly after," reads an Epic tweet.

For fans playing in the UK, this means that Fortnite will be taken offline in full at around 4am BST.

Epic hasn't revealed exactly when downtime will come to an end, but maintenance for a new season tends to last a lot longer than usual.

This means Fortnite and all companion game modes should be back online by 10am BST UK time, although there's a chance it could be even later.

On the plus side, the downtime will be accompanied by a new update, which can be downloaded while servers are offline.

Update 31.00 introduces all of the new content, including the brand new Battle Pass items, new weapons and map locations.

The Battle Pass kicks off with the Gwenpool skin, and also features War Machine, Peelverine, Emma Frost, Shuri and Mysterio.

Jonesy also makes a return as part of the Battle Pass, only this time he's modelled after Captain America.

Doctor Doom will join the Battle Pass later in the season, while The Fantastic Four are tipped to come to the item shop at some point in the coming weeks.

Marvel-themed locations will be added to the map, including a point of interest named Castle Doom and another titled Doomstadt.

Similar to previous seasons involving guest characters from the likes of Marvel and Star Wars, players will be able to discover Mythic weapons with special powers.

This includes Iron Man's Gloves and the Stark Industries Energy Rifle, as well as War Machine's Jetpack and Turret.