A widespread internet outage on 20 October disrupted online access for millions of users worldwide after Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major technical failure in its data centres. The incident affected several high-profile online platforms, including Fortnite, Roblox, Palworld, and Nintendo’s network services, leaving many players temporarily disconnected.
Widespread impact on major online games
The disruption originated from AWS server farms, which power a large portion of the world’s internet infrastructure. The outage took down numerous online services, particularly gaming platforms that rely heavily on cloud connectivity. Among the most notable affected were Fortnite, Roblox, Clash Royale, Palworld, and various Nintendo online services.
✅ The service provider outage is resolved and Fortnite is back online! Players should again be able to log-in and matchmake without issue.
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) October 20, 2025
We’ll continue to monitor this to ensure service remains stable. 🫡 https://t.co/5hhpG5UKfj
As of the latest updates, Fortnite’s multiplayer matches have successfully resumed, with players reporting stable gameplay once again. Roblox has also returned online, though users have noted some performance issues. Palworld confirmed that its multiplayer functions are operating normally.
[Network Outage – Resolved]
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) October 20, 2025
We have confirmed that the multiplayer connection issues for Palworld, which occurred today due to a global network outage, have now been resolved.
You can now enjoy multiplayer as normal.
Thank you for your continued support of Palworld.
Nintendo, however, continues to experience significant difficulties. Both the Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Switch 2 network services remain offline, along with several of the company’s mobile titles. The Japanese gaming giant has yet to confirm when full online access will be restored.
Meanwhile, even unrelated platforms felt the effects of the AWS issue. Some users reported difficulties accessing the New York Times puzzle app, with games such as Connections temporarily unavailable.
Outage traced to AWS servers in Northern Virginia
Amazon identified the source of the disruption as a failure in its Northern Virginia data centres, specifically within the company’s US-EAST-1 region. According to official AWS updates, the issue stemmed from problems with the “DynamoDB endpoint,” leading to increased error rates and latency across multiple services.
The first report of the outage came at 4:26 a.m. ET, when Amazon confirmed that its engineers were investigating the issue. A company statement noted that “engineers were immediately engaged and are actively working on both mitigating the issue and fully understanding the root cause.” Later updates revealed that the disruption was linked to a “DNS resolution” problem affecting the DynamoDB service.
Throughout the morning, AWS teams provided ongoing progress reports, explaining that systems were gradually being restored. The company said most affected services were slowly recovering, although some regions continued to experience intermittent connectivity problems.
Dependence on major tech providers raises concerns
While the outage does not appear to be the result of a cyberattack or a long-term failure, it highlights the internet’s heavy dependence on a handful of major corporations. Amazon Web Services, along with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, provides the backbone for countless websites and applications used daily around the globe.
Industry observers note that incidents like this serve as a reminder of the risks associated with centralised digital infrastructure. When one large provider experiences technical difficulties, the impact can ripple through sectors ranging from gaming to finance and entertainment.
As services continue to recover, many users are expressing frustration over how quickly a single technical issue can bring much of the connected world to a standstill. Although full normalcy is expected to return soon, the event underscores the fragility of modern internet systems built upon a limited number of cloud providers.
