Epic, developers of battle royale smash hit Fortnite, have announced that the upcoming third season of Chapter 2 has once again been delayed. Season 3 will now begin on Wednesday, June 17, while the live event, known as “The Device,” will happen on June 15. Epic made the announcement in a post to the official Epic Games website.

There have been multiple delays to the start of Season 3, which was originally due to begin at the end of May. Due to a number of reasons, the launch of the new season was pushed to the first week of June and now to the second week of June.

The first delay was caused by the ongoing global pandemic, while the current delay has been explained as a reaction to ongoing protests and unrest in America after the death of George Floyd while he was being arrested by police. While he was being detained, several members of the Minneapolis police department knelt on his back and neck. Mr. Floyd eventually lost consciousness and was later confirmed to have died.

“The team is eager to move Fortnite forward” the statement reads, “but we need to balance the Season 3 launch with time for the team to focus on themselves, their families, and their communities.”

This is understandable. While still going through the global pandemic, many people are now feeling intense pressure due to the ongoing unrest, and we certainly agree with Epic’s decision to allow their staff the room to process events before diving into the inevitable workload of a new season launch.