'Fortnite's' "Ready Up" Button Has Been "Temporarily Disabled" by Epic Games

There's nothing more frustrating than trying to play your favorite video game while being plagued by technical issues. Unfortunately, it's a feeling that Fortnite players know all too well. When they're not totally unable to join a match while stuck "waiting in queue," they're dealing with game crashes and more — and now, they've been left befuddled as Fortnite has seemingly removed its "Ready Up" button.

At the end of each match, players can choose whether to return to the game lobby or to Ready Up, which allows them to quickly join another match without having to sit around in the queue (which can take hours on a bad day).

But ever since the game's Chapter 6 update, the button has been gone, forcing users to return to the lobby after their game. What's going on?

If you've found that your "Ready Up" button is completely missing from Fortnite, the good news is that you're not alone. The bad news, however, is that it seems there may be no simple fix for this one.

Ever since Chapter 5 ended and Chapter 6, Season 1 began, which was around 2 a.m. EST, players have reported that the important button has vanished, making gameplay annoying at best.

While folks were generally hoping it was just a small glitch, Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, has since addressed the issue to their fans on X (formerly Twitter) and it's not looking promising.

"The 'Ready Up' button at the end of the match is temporarily disabled as our team is working on an issue," the company's official support account posted at 9:22 a.m. EST.

Then, two hours later, they shared another update: "We've disabled the Ready Up button at the end of a match while we investigate an issue, it will return in a future update. Please 'Return To Lobby' to ready up for a new game."

So, sadly, the button missing isn't a glitch — it has been purposely disabled on their end while they work out an unspecified issue related to the button's functionality. That means that, while players wait for the aforementioned future update, they'll have to return to the queue before each match.

It's unclear how long this issue will persist, but as of writing, their technical team seems to be actively working on a solution.

On social media, Fortnite players have been sharing their frustration with the button's removal (and whatever problem is causing it in the first place), as it has made playing the game even more time-consuming.

"Not being able to Ready Up from death anymore has to be the most BULLS--T Fortnite update I've ever seen," one disgruntled player said on X.

Another user wrote on the platform, "[Whoever] at @FortniteGame thought it was a good idea to remove the Ready Up in game and make you have to go all the way back to lobby needs to be fired."