November 3rd, 2023, Original Fortnite Map Return

Submission 1,483

Part of a series on Fortnite. [View Related Entries]

Overview

November 3rd, 2023, Original Fortnite Map Return refers to a series of memes and posts about the Chapter 1 map of Fortnite, often referred to as the "OG map," returning in a new update of the game, Chapter 4 Season 5, bringing back fan favorite locations like Tilted Towers, among others. The update was set to start on November 3rd, 2023. In turn, fans of the game and its original map rejoiced via memes and posts on social media sites like TikTok, Twitter / X and Instagram, among others.

Background

On October 27th, 2023, the official X^[1] account of @FortniteGame posted, "Sprint (or Mantle, your choice) back to Chapter 1….see you soon 11.3.2023. #FortniteOG," and attached a promo image featuring the date November 3rd, 2023. The post gained over 225,000 likes in one week (shown below). News then spread that Fortnite was bringing back the original Fortnite map from Chapter 1 of the game in its Chapter 4 Season 5, as reported by outlets like IGN.^[2]

Online Reaction

In the replies and quote retweets of @FortniteGame's original tweet,^[1] many reacted positively to the news with memes. For instance, on October 27th, 2023, X^[3] user @DefaultsBR replied with the I Used to Pray for Times Like This image, gaining roughly 1,900 likes in one week (shown below, left). Also on October 27th, notable Fortnite player Ninja posted on X,^[4] "It’s real it’s happening OMG," gaining over 20,000 likes in one week (shown below, right).

Many online also started to namedrop favorite locations on the original map, such as Tilted Towers. For instance, on October 27th, 2023, X^[5] user @slvppy posted a Druski video with the caption, "tilted towers ain’t ready for me," gaining over 55,000 likes in one week (shown below).

Similar content about November 3rd surfaced on TikTok going into early November 2023. For instance, on October 29th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @kayden2023 posted a POV meme about November 3rd, gaining roughly 4.2 million plays and 586,100 likes in five days (shown below, left). On October 31st, TikToker^[7] @jadendunn posted a similar skit, gaining over 3.3 million plays and 363,800 likes in three days (shown below, right).

Various content about November 3rd continued to surface online, leading to a slew of memes on TikTok^[8] and X,^[9] among other websites.

Developments

Fortnite Breaks 5 Million Concurrents On November 3rd

On November 3rd, 2023, when Chapter 4 Season 5 was released, it was reported by X^[10] user @JakeSucky that the game had broken 5 million concurrent players which was the largest player count since the game's original release. The tweet received roughly 2,100 likes in less than a day (shown below).