It seems like for every moment of cultural significance to occur so far this century, there's a scene from The Simpsons predicting that very thing.
From a Donald Trump presidency to the invention of smart watches to Greta Thunberg's iconic UN speech, the long-running animated series has been eerily prescient about so many events that 'Simpsons did it first' has become a popular phrase.
The latest prophecy to come true? Fortnite blowing up and going dark.
The wildly popular 'battle royale' game finished its 10th season with a bang on Sunday. Those who were playing online at 2pm (EST) watched as a meteor destroyed the island, leaving an ominous black hole on screen.
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The game remained offline for days afterwards, with players unable to satisfy their addiction. Many have resorted to staring at the black hole, which was livestreamed on Twitch and Twitter, in the hopes of decoding some hidden meaning from the random numbers it has been seen to expel.
At one point there were more than 100,000 people watching the livestream.
The idea of people sitting around watching a black hole on a screen may seem unique to this context, but that very same situation was depicted almost 30 years ago in an early episode of The Simpsons.
'The Way We Was', episode 12 of the show's second season, features a scene in which the yellow-skinned family's beloved TV malfunctions, leaving just a tiny circle in the middle of the screen.
"Hey everybody, if you look real close you can kind of make them out," Bart says hopefully.
"This is sick, they're staring at a dot," Marge laments.
Twitter users have reacted with amazement to a clip of the now-relevant scene.
"As always, Simpsons did it first," one user said.
The agonising wait for Fortnite's return is now over, with Epic Games releasing Season 11 or 'Chapter 2' on Tuesday (local time).
Newshub.
