The return of Fortnite's Playground Mode gets delayed again

Epic Games has managed to push Fortnite to mobile phones and the Nintendo Switch but it hasn't yet been able to roll out Playground Mode. The practice mode for learning the Fortnite ropes has now officially been delayed until next week at least.

According to the Fortnite Twitter account, the LTM (Limited Time Mode) isn't yet ready for public consumption, though we don't really have any more details than that. The root of the problem seems to be the matchmaking system, which is why Playground Mode got pulled hours after launch earlier this week.

If you're not up to date with the latest game patch, Playground Mode is designed as an hour-long sandbox-style experience for gamers who want to take a bit more time experimenting before being shot to bits.

Keep your eyes on the rocket

Epic Games is promising further updates on Monday. In the meantime, Fortnite season 5 rolls ever closer, with an official launch scheduled for July 12. We would certainly hope Playground Mode is up and running by then.

In the meantime, gamers' appetites have been whetted with a special one-off event that happened on Saturday June 30. Those who were logged into Fortnite at the same got to see a spectacular rocket launch: after losing some kind of thruster over Anarchy Acres, the rocket eventually created a huge rift in the Fortnite sky.

Keep your eyes on that rift over the next couple of weeks... but what does it all mean? Maybe an alien invasion is imminent, or maybe it's a portal through to a different world (in honour of Westworld). We'll find out for sure in July.