Epic Games Announces Fortnite for Linux with Enhanced Security Collaboration
- Epic Games is developing Fortnite for Linux, as announced in a recent blog post.
- Collaboration with Linux distro maintainers will focus on security requirements for the game.
- Easy Anti-Cheat aims to enhance protection on Linux, with plans tested in Fortnite first.
Epic Games has officially confirmed work on bringing its popular battle royale shooter, Fortnite, to Linux. This announcement was included towards the end of a blog post that also introduced the new Epic Games Store, which is set to launch on Linux.
The company indicated that it will collaborate with Linux distribution maintainers to establish security requirements essential for running Fortnite. Distributions, often shortened to ‘distros’, refer to various operating system versions of Linux, each tailored with specific goals and operations. For example, Valve’s SteamOS is based on Arch Linux. Due to the diversity among Linux distros, each will need to individually implement Epic’s security criteria for Fortnite to work on their platforms. The game will be accessible on Linux through the Epic Games Store launcher, contingent on reaching a “critical mass of distro maintainers,” though Epic did not provide specific numbers for this threshold.
This development holds significance for several reasons. Firstly, it could potentially enable Fortnite to be played on SteamOS PCs and portable devices, such as Steam Machines and the Steam Deck. Moreover, even in the absence of a “critical mass,” Epic asserts that its advancements will be available for other developers looking to port their games to Linux.
One major aspect of this announcement concerns Easy Anti-Cheat, an anti-cheat service owned by Epic that is utilized in Fortnite along with numerous other titles like Dead by Daylight, Rocket League, Apex Legends, and Elden Ring. Although Easy Anti-Cheat currently supports Linux, including for some of the aforementioned games, many developers opt not to enable it. Epic noted that this is largely due to limitations in the “Linux implementation,” which reportedly cannot provide the same level of security as its Windows counterpart. Consequently, numerous games utilizing Easy Anti-Cheat remain unplayable on Steam Machine and Steam Deck. Epic’s post explicitly mentioned its continuous communication with Valve to enhance support for Steam hardware devices “to the maximum extent technically possible.”
The challenge of implementing a robust anti-cheat solution on Linux stems from the platform’s open nature, which does not guarantee essential system-level protections. In contrast, Windows users can be prompted to activate features like TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, creating a secure environment once hardware prerequisites are met.
To address these challenges on Linux, Easy Anti-Cheat plans to leverage features such as signed kernels, signed kernel modules, and secure boot with attestation. Epic explained, “These requirements build on work that distribution maintainers already do,” emphasizing that the more distributions adopt these standards by default, the fewer players will need to alter their setups to play. The overarching goal is to “bring the level of protection much closer to par with Windows.”
Currently, there is no set timeline for these developments. Easy Anti-Cheat plans to first implement the announced strategies within Fortnite before extending the updates to other developers. Therefore, if Fortnite announces a release date for Linux, it will signify substantial progress toward achieving anti-cheat equivalence between Windows and Linux.
News Courtesy of Eurogamer
