Epic Games Launcher Preview
Epic is working on bringing Fortnite to Linux through its Epic Games Launcher. The new launcher is releasing in preview today, and for the first time on Linux, and while Fortnite isn’t available there just yet, Epic wants to make that a reality.
Epic is bringing Fortnite to Linux
There’s no timeline on when, but Epic is rebuilding its anti-cheat software so that Fortnite will be playable on Linux.
Anti-Cheat Rebuild
So far, part of the reason Fortnite hasn’t been available on Linux is concerns about cheating. While Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat service does support Linux, Fortnite itself does not, and in February 2022, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that for Fortnite, they lacked confidence in combating cheating at scale across diverse kernel configurations. But now, Epic says it’s planning to rebuild EAC for Linux, calling it EAC Linux v2.
To bring Fortnite to Linux, Epic is rebuilding Easy Anti-Cheat and working with distro maintainers on security requirements. Once it works with a critical mass of distro maintainers, Epic will bring Fortnite to Linux via the Epic Games Launcher and make the improvements available to other developers.
SteamOS and Steam Deck
Epic plans to pilot EAC Linux v2 in Fortnite first. The company does not have a definitive release timeline for the Linux version of the game.
Epic is also investigating making the game compatible with Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS, though the company does not plan to distribute Fortnite through Valve’s Steam store. Additionally, the Steam Deck does not currently support the required features for the EAC v2 solution, though discussions with Valve are ongoing.
