Epic Brings Fortnite to Linux

Epic is working to bring Fortnite to Linux through the Epic Games Launcher. The new launcher launches today in preview and for the first time on Linux. While Fortnite is not yet available there, Epic wants to make it a reality. So far, part of the reason Fortnite has not been available on Linux has been […]

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There's no timeline on when, but Epic is rebuilding its anti-cheat software to make Fortnite playable on Linux.

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is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.

Epic is working on bringing Fortnite to Linux through the Epic Games Launcher. The new launcher is being released in preview today for the first time on Linux, and while Fortnite isn't available there yet, Epic wants to make it a reality.

Until now, part of the reason Fortnite hasn't been made available on Linux is because of concerns about cheating. While Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) service supports Linux, Fortnite itself does not, and in February 2022, Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, said that for Fortnite, "we're not sure we can combat cheating at scale under a broad set of kernel configurations." But now, Epic says it's planning to rebuild EAC for Linux, which it calls EAC Linux v2.

"To bring Fortnite to Linux, we're rebuilding Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) and working with distribution maintainers on security requirements," Epic said in a blog post. We bring Fortnite to Linux via the Epic Games Launcher when it works with a large number of distribution maintainers. We will also make these improvements available to other developers so they can bring their games to Linux players.

In a separate post focusing on the anti-cheat update, Epic says that Epic plans to test EAC Linux v2 in Fortnite first. Rick Dist, director of engineering at Epic, told The Verge in a briefing that the company does not have a timeline for when the Linux version of Fortnite will be released.

Epic's new game launcher has 'Webcoded'

Deist says Epic is also "exploring" to make the game compatible with Valve's Linux-based SteamOS operating system, although the company has no plans to bring Fortnite to Valve's Steam store, according to Epic Games VP and GM Martin Keely. The company also says that Steam Deck "does not support the features required by our EAC v2 solution, but we are actively talking to Valve and hope to support it in the future."

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