NEW YORK: Internet gaming phenomenon Fortnite has temporarily gone offline, leaving millions of addicted gamers wondering what to do with themselves, after a massive asteroid brought the latest season to an end.

Epic Games, Fortnite’s creators, announced that season ten of the shoot-’em-up survival video game would end on October 13 and many users expected season eleven to follow immediately.

But that didn’t happen. Instead the game — which has become an international craze, mostly amongst teenage boys, since launching in 2017 — was replaced with an image of a black hole. “Hey @FortniteGame how about you give us some update about what’s happening?! We at least deserve something after all the money we spend on this game!” tweeted Todd Sinowitz.

“Fortnite going for the world record of how many people they can get to stare at a black screen,” joked King Ye, also on Twitter. On Sunday, an asteroid blew up the virtual world where users must search for weapons and other resources while eliminating other players — all while trying to stay alive.—AFP