Epic is bringing Fortnite to Linux and rebuilding its anti-cheat

Epic Games plans to bring Fortnite to Linux through its own Epic Games Launcher. The launcher itself is shipping in preview today — and for the first time it's available on Linux. The game isn't there yet, but Epic wants to change that.

The main obstacle so far has been cheating. While Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) service does support Linux, Fortnite itself does not. Back in February 2022, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney explained that for Fortnite the company didn't "have confidence that we'd be able to combat cheating at scale under a wide array of kernel configurations."

A new version of the anti-cheat

Now Epic says it is rebuilding EAC for Linux — a refreshed system it calls EAC Linux v2. "To bring Fortnite to Linux, we are rebuilding Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) and working with distro maintainers on security requirements," the company says in a blog post. "Once it's working with a critical mass of distro maintainers, we'll bring Fortnite to Linux via the Epic Games Launcher." Epic also promises to make these improvements available to other developers so they can bring their own games to Linux players.

Fortnite will be the pilot for EAC Linux v2. The company has no timeline for when the Linux version might arrive, Epic engineering director Rick Deist told The Verge in a briefing.

SteamOS and the Steam Deck

Deist says Epic is also "investigating" making the game compatible with Valve's Linux-based SteamOS. However, the company does not plan to release Fortnite on the Steam store, according to Epic Games Store VP and GM Martin Keely. As for the Steam Deck, Epic admits it "does not support the required features for our EAC v2 solution," but the company is in talks with Valve and hopes to support the device in the future.

Source: The Verge