X

Fortnite purple cube appears on map after mysterious lightning strikes

Epic's at it again. Brace yourselves for more Fortnite surprises.

Jason Parker Senior Editor / Reviews - Software
Jason Parker has been at CNET for nearly 15 years. He is the senior editor in charge of iOS software and has become an expert reviewer of the software that runs on each new Apple device. He now spends most of his time covering Apple iOS releases and third-party apps.
Jason Parker
2 min read

Epic Games already knows how to keep people excited about Fortnite: Battle Royale with weekly updates, challenges and new weapons. But there's also a slowly unfolding story as each season comes to a close. Earlier today, players witnessed another such mysterious event as the lightning that's been striking select map locations suddenly produced a giant purple cube.

This all happened while popular Twitch Fortnite streamer Ninja was in the middle of broadcasting from the Fortnite Summer Skirmish Series. As he was farming cacti in the video above, he suddenly saw a continuous stream of lightning hitting the mountain in front of him. Then, something unexpected happened: A giant purple cube appeared on the mountain, and the crack that's been in the sky since the end of season 4 mysteriously disappeared.

Here's a closer look at the cube's appearance from a cinematic POV from @LootLakeBR.

According to players who have interacted with the purple cube since its appearance, if you hit it with a pickax it bounces you away from the cube and incurs damages. If you shoot it with a gun, you'll be struck by lightning and potentially killed. But when you bump into the cube, it bounces you away and you slowly generate shields like the effects from a Slurp Juice.

So what does it all mean? Epic hasn't said anything yet, so your guess is as good as ours, but we'll be watching what happens over the weekend and in the future to see what other surprises Fortnite's latest update has in store.

Watch this: Fortnite's Gamescom booth is a bonkers gamer's paradise

The coolest Fortnite merch you can buy

See all photos