We're just a few short weeks into the start of Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4, but already much of the Fortnite community has its eyes set on something potentially much bigger. Fortnite Chapter 4, once believed to arrive around December 2023, may actually be on the way this December. Why do people think that? Well, there's a multitude of reasons, so in this week's Friday 'Nite Fortnite column, we're looking at all the evidence. Is Fortnite really gearing up to begin a new chapter after just a year? Yes, it really does seem that way.

Fortnite Asteria leak

The rumors first began swirling around a new Fortnite chapter when something called Asteria was spotted by the game's hyperactive datamining community. According to those with firsthand knowledge we've spoken to, some dataminers briefly caught wind of "Asteria" in the game's files, and it seems to relate to a new Fortnite map. Some dataminers have even said this plainly, while others haven't been too confident or willing to make such a public declaration.

However, even its name, Asteria, indicates it's a new Fortnite map. This is because of the internal naming convention Epic Games uses when referring to Fortnite maps--they're all named after Greek gods. The first map was Athena, Chapter 2's was Apollo, and the current map is nicknamed Artemis. Asteria, like these other names, is also the name of a Greek god--it even similarly starts with 'A' which seems to be important to Epic, so it's fairly certain by now that Artemis is a new Fortnite map, even if it doesn't explain why players think it's launching this year. For that, there's more to read below