How to Fix Fortnite Error Code 93: Stop the "Unable to Join Party"

Your friends are in the lobby, the invite is sitting right there — and every time you hit Join Party, Fortnite answers with Error 93. No explanation, no hint, just the error code standing between you and your squad. If this keeps happening while your friends play on without you, this guide is for you.

Error 93 is one of the most reported Fortnite party errors, and it has been around for years across many seasons. The good news is that it is almost never a server-side ban and almost never something wrong with your account. It is a party handshake failure, and in the vast majority of cases it comes down to one of a handful of causes — starting with the single biggest one: you and the party host are not on the same game version. Work through the fixes below in order and you'll likely be in the lobby with your friends the same evening.

What does Fortnite error 93 actually mean?

In plain English, Fortnite error 93 means the game could not connect you to the party you tried to join. The party system is essentially a matchmaking handshake: your game asks the host's session "can I come in?", and if anything about your client doesn't line up — the version, the server region, the privacy setting — the handshake fails and you get error 93 instead of a seat in the lobby.

Concretely, the game compares your client against the party before letting you in. That points to a small set of suspects: a game build that doesn't match the host's build, a party set to Private that blocks you without an invite, different matchmaking regions between players, a glitchy Epic Friends sync, corrupted local files, a VPN putting you somewhere unexpected, or — least commonly — Epic's party services having a bad day.

What causes error 93?

After years of community reports across countless seasons and patches, the usual suspects are well mapped:

• Game version mismatch — the number one cause. Fortnite parties require everyone on the same build, and updates roll out at different times on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and mobile.
• Party privacy set to Private — the host's party blocks anyone without a direct invite, and joining anyway fails with error 93.
• Different server regions — players on different matchmaking regions can't form a party, and the join attempt dies with this error.
• Stale Epic Friends sync — the friends system occasionally desyncs, so your game thinks the friend link is broken even though you're still listed.
• Corrupted local game files — damaged files on your device can break the party handshake before it completes.
• VPN or proxy — these can silently put you in a different region than the host, which the party system rejects.
• Strict NAT type — overly restrictive network settings can block the connection the party needs.
• Epic party services outage — rare, but when party services degrade, everyone gets error 93 at once.

1Update Fortnite on every device

This is the fix the Fortnite community swears by, because error 93 is overwhelmingly a version-mismatch error. Fortnite ships updates on different schedules per platform: the PC build might land hours before the console one, or vice versa. Two players on different builds physically cannot join the same party.

Get every player in the party to check for updates: on PC, the Epic Games Launcher updates Fortnite automatically but can lag — click the three dots next to Fortnite and choose Update to force it. On PlayStation and Xbox, highlight the game, open the Options menu, and select Check for Update. On Nintendo Switch, press + on the game icon and choose Software Update. Once everyone's build number matches (compare in the lobby's settings screen), try joining again.

2Set the party to Public or Friends

Party privacy is the second most common cause. The host should open the party menu (the lobby panel on the left), go to Party Settings, and change Joinability to Public or Friends temporarily. Then try joining again.

If the party must stay Private, the host needs to send you a fresh invite from inside the party menu — an old invite link, a stale notification, or joining through a friend-of-a-friend all fail with error 93 when the party is private. Note that children with a Cabined Account (parental controls) may also be blocked from joining parties entirely, which looks exactly like error 93 on their screen.

3Match the server region

Fortnite splits players across matchmaking regions (NA-East, NA-West, Europe, Asia, and so on), and party members must be able to reach the same one. Ask the host which region they use: in Fortnite, go to Settings → Game → Matchmaking Region. Set yours to the same region — if the host is on Auto, switch yours to Auto too, since Auto resolves to your actual location and can differ between countries.

This fix is especially important for cross-country friend groups: a player in the US joining a friend in the EU will keep hitting error 93 until one of them switches regions. You'll play with higher ping on the other person's region, but you'll at least be in the same lobby.

4Leave the party, restart, and rejoin

Sometimes the party session itself is in a broken state on one side. Leave the party completely, then fully close Fortnite — not just back to the lobby, but quit the application entirely (on console, close the game from the dashboard; on PC, end it in the launcher or Task Manager). Restart the game, then have the host send you a brand-new invite.

This clears stale session data that survives simple re-joins. It's a quick fix, so it's worth trying before the deeper network steps — community experience says this alone clears a surprising number of error 93 cases.

5Remove and re-add the friend

The Epic Friends system occasionally desyncs: you see the friend, the friend sees you, but the underlying link is broken and the party join fails. Open your Epic Friends list, remove the friend you can't join, wait about a minute, and send a new friend request. After they accept, try joining their party again.

This forces both clients to rebuild the friend record from scratch. It's the most reliable fix when error 93 hits with one specific friend while everyone else's parties work fine — that pattern almost always points at the broken friend link rather than anything on your device.

6Verify your game files and clear the cache

Corrupted local files can break the party handshake before it completes. On PC: open the Epic Games Launcher, click the three dots next to Fortnite, and choose Verify — the launcher scans and re-downloads anything damaged. On console: clear the system cache (on PlayStation, boot into Safe Mode and choose Clear Cache; on Xbox, hold the power button for a full shutdown and unplug for 30 seconds).

Also check that Fortnite has enough free storage: an update that half-installed because the drive was full leaves the game in a broken state that fails with error 93 until it's reinstalled cleanly. As a last resort, uninstall and reinstall the game — a full day-one-fresh install clears every corrupted file, cache, and setting the verify pass can't reach.

7Fix your network and turn off the VPN

Turn off any VPN or proxy before joining a party: VPNs can put you in a different region than the host, and the party system rejects the mismatch with error 93. Then check your NAT type in your console's network settings or your router. A Strict NAT can block the connections Fortnite's party system needs.

• Enable UPnP on your router (usually under Advanced → Network) so the console can open ports itself.
• If UPnP isn't available, forward TCP/UDP 5222 and TCP 443 for your console's IP.
• Restart your router and your device after changing anything — the new NAT state only takes effect after a reboot.

Test the party again after the restart. If error 93 is gone, your network was the bottleneck.

8Check Fortnite's server status

If none of the above works, check Epic's public Fortnite server status page before doing anything drastic. When party services are degraded — which happens during major events, new season launches, or outages — error 93 appears for everyone at once, and no fix on your side will clear it.

During an outage, the only move is to wait: Epic's status page usually clears within a few hours. A good tell that it's server-side: everyone in your group gets error 93 with everyone else, not just one person with one friend.

Quick checklist to keep error 93 away

• Update Fortnite on every device in the party before playing — mismatched builds are the top cause.
• Keep the party's joinability on Friends or Public, not Private, unless you send fresh invites.
• Make sure the whole squad uses the same matchmaking region.
• Turn off your VPN before launching Fortnite.
• Keep your NAT type at Moderate (Type 2) or Open (Type 1), not Strict.
• Run a game file verify after every major update.
• Bookmark this guide: error 93 has a habit of returning after big patches, and the same fixes work every time.

Frequently asked questions

For most players, error 93 ends at Fix 1 or 2 — updating every device or opening the party privacy clears whatever was blocking the join, and you're in the lobby in under ten minutes. The frustrating part of this error is how little it tells you, but the pattern is remarkably consistent: mismatched version, private party, or wrong region, in roughly that order. Match the versions, match the regions, and error 93 stays gone. And if you'd rather skip parties, patches, and updates for a while, the free browser games here on GameAdda start with a single click. 🎮