Fortnite ARG--They're Coming--is our first teaser of Season 7
In preparation for Season 7, Epic Games/Fortnite has started an unannounced, unclaimed marketing effort known as an ARG, which stands for Alternate Reality Game. Basically, this means they combined elements in the actual game with IRL elements that are somewhat like a puzzle teasing the upcoming theme/lore for the next Season of Fortnite. Based on what leakers have discovered, what has actually happened in game, and these IRL elements, the next season is clearly alien/space/futuristic in nature.
IRL Elements
Starting on Saturday, May 22nd, people in different countries around the world began receiving cryptic postcards announcing “They’re Coming”, colored in black and green, with mysterious symbols, all suggesting an alien theme.
Posters have also been found, reportedly from London, England, Oakland, California, Brisbane, Australia and Berlin, Germany. These posters are in the same vein as the postcards in terms of attributes and alien theme. Additionally, they seem to reveal that two of the glyphs seen above translate into two letters.In each location, the posters have a phone number local to the country.
Lastly, portable DVD players with “they’re coming” DVDs were sent to several streamers including Ali-A, Loserfruit, Muselk, SypherPK and Alixxa (all prominent Fortnite content creators). The DVDs depicted things like crop circles amongst natural terrain (which seemed to match their locality). If watched closely, you could see that one of the symbols shown on the cards and posters was depicted in each video.
The Phone Numbers
US: 15752917617 AKA +1 (575) 291-7617
UK: 441722638030 AKA +44 (1722) 638 030
GR: 08001816543 AKA 0800-1816543
AU: 61731861051 AKA +61 731 861 051
On these materials you can find phone numbers local to the country where the poster has been found. The one in the US actually correlates with Roswell, NM and the one in the UK correlates with Salisbury, UK, which is where Stonehenge is located. Calling these numbers results in a recording that plays that is hard to discern and sounds like mysterious sounds. In fact, the audio recording has changed a few times.
The Coordinates
On each of the postcards there’s a 6 digit number, separated by a comma. Looking at the 6 different numbers, you quickly notice they have similarities and it has been determined that these are coordinates. If you graph them on an X-Y axis and connect the dots, it forms a hexagon shape. What’s interesting is that if you overlay this hexagon onto the Fortnite map, you can almost line up the six guardian towers with the 6 points in the hexagon.
In-Game Elements
So far, Epic has released several “Foreshadowing” quests that also referenced UFOs/aliens. First, there was a downed black helicopter that had to be inspected. Upon inspecting it, an audio message played talking about the IO and being at level OPSEC 3. Second, players had to find various broken telescopes acorss the map and use 20 metal to repair them. Third, players had to locate CB radios across the map and inspect them. Upon inspecting the CB radios, various audio clips would play, reflecting multiple known Fortnite characters including Mari, Turk and Dennis (from Save the World, apparently). Lastly, although this is not yet active in the game, the next quest is to interact/locate TV sets across the map.
Finally, also not yet in game, is that abductions are going to happen closer to the end of the season. Apparently nothing bad happens when an abduction occurs, and reportedly it actually restores health and shield. There will also be street signs around the map that show Peely running and UFOs in the sky.
This all begs the question: Is there something to be solved? Because there’s enough evidence to tie the IRL elements with the in-game elements, there’s not really anything to solve per se. However, there may be things in the elements that give insight/clues to the new season, or even just about additional clues that will be revealed as we get closer to the new season.
Speaking of the new season, people seem to be VERY confused as to when it should start. Some people say June 7th, others say June 8th, but the most telling evidence seems to say June 9th. If you look in-game right now at the Battlepass screen, you’ll see that it says this season’s battlepass is “through June 8”, which means you’ll still be playing this season on June 8th. Therefore, the next season would launch of June 9th.