'Fortnite' is hosting a mysterious live event this weekend

Fortnite's Playground might be on hold for now, but there will be something to captivate your attention in the near future. Epic Games has been teasing some kind of one-time event in the game's battle royale mode on June 30th at 1:30PM Eastern, with strange sounds from its supervillain stronghold (which holds a rocket) and countdowns on in-game TV screens signalling that something is happening. The developer has been quiet, but pro streamer Muselk has hinted that players will want to be in the vicinity of the rocket at the specified time to see "something big" -- many people suspect a rocket launch.

One-time events are nothing new in games. Final Fantasy XIV's initial shutdown included an ominous meteor, for instance. However, it's not often that you see these in competitive shooters, which tend to focus more on long-running themed events than one-offs. Fortnite may be ideally suited for this. Its large, evolving map and 100-player fights make it realistic to produce shared live events that many people are guaranteed to see. That's bound to help Epic, who will no doubt witness a surge of people hopping into matches just to see what all the fuss is about.