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Fortnite won’t get Steam Deck support, Epic CEO blames cheatersDance, off
Dance, off
Epic Games might have committed to making their Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system more compatible with theSteam Deck, but don’t expect to see their biggest game on the Valve handheld. Battle royale money machineFortnitewill not be updated to work on the Steam Deck – and according to Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, that’s down to a lack of “confidence that we’d be able to combat cheating” on Linux platforms.
Sweeney was responding to Twitter userStormy178, who asked if there are any plans to make Fortnite play nicely with the Proton compatibility layer (a software interface that, in the Deck’s case, allows for Windows games to run on the Linux-based SteamOS). “Fortnite no, but there’s a big effort underway to maximize Easy Anti-Cheat compatibility with Steam Deck”, hereplied. And it’s hard to get more final than “Fortnite no”.
Fortnite no, but there’s a big effort underway to maximize Easy Anti Cheat compatibility with Steam Deck.— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)February 7, 2022
Fortnite no, but there’s a big effort underway to maximize Easy Anti Cheat compatibility with Steam Deck.
Sweeney later elaborated why, writing that “We don’t have confidence that we’d be able to combat cheating at scale under a wide array of kernel configurations, including custom ones.”
It’s a bit odd that Epic are happy toencourage EAC uptake on the Steam Deck, but evidently aren’t convinced of its effectiveness at protecting one of their own games. But then, Fortnite might be a special case on account of its obscene popularity: it might just attract too many hackers to be worth the effort, while other EAC games are more manageable. “Scale” is the key word here, and one that was further alluded to once Sweeney started breaking out the all caps:
With regard to anti-cheat on the Linux platform supporting custom kernels and the threat model to a game of Fortnite’s size, YES THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT!— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)February 7, 2022
With regard to anti-cheat on the Linux platform supporting custom kernels and the threat model to a game of Fortnite’s size, YES THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT!
I wonder if the Steam Deck becoming some kind of breakout mega-success would make it more or less likely for Epic to reconsider? An even bigger player base would be the draw, but more players means more cheaters, which is apparently the issue to begin with. Anyway, enough conjecture – right now, the prospects of Fortnite on the Steam Deck are deader than those ten poor sods in Tomato Town.
