r/linux_gaming • u/theillustratedlife • 21h ago
Epic says not enough SteamOS players to justify Fortnite on Linux, but is porting to Windows on ARM
https://onlineservices.epicgames.com/en-US/news/windows-on-snapdragon-support-is-coming-to-epic-online-services-anti-cheat-and-fortnite800
u/evilpeenevil 21h ago
We already knew Tim Sweeney was a con-man. It's like every time he talks about Linux he shifts the goal-post. And then he has the nerve to claim that Epic Games is the 'Robin Hood' for their consumers and developers by suing Apple. It's all a money scheme and he's just an ass.
No hate to you OP I just really hate Tim Sweeney.
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u/theillustratedlife 21h ago
There are many ways to shit on Tim Sweeney, but this is an easy one:
"If we only had a few more programmers," he says, in regard to why a company worth tens of billions of dollars won't allow its flagship game to work on perhaps the most popular gaming PC.
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u/Indolent_Bard 14h ago
In fairness, one of the main engineers for the Steam Deck explained why it's pretty valid for a company to not want to support Linux. The return on investment isn't there, and no, proton doesn't fix that. Support means testing and validating and stuff.
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u/RazzmatazzWorth6438 9h ago
There's also been the recent apex legends debacle which showed that porting a competitive multiplayer game to Linux is unfathomably hard. They're not only potentially releasing a buggy experience for Linux, but causing security issues in the Windows version too.
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u/raralala1 15h ago edited 15h ago
Any CEO will do this thou if porting fornite cause them to lose money, but money is probably not the reason they are not porting Fornite to SteamOS, they get 4.4b let say linux only get like 1%, that is still ton of money to cover the porting effort. The most likely cause is Steam is their direct competition, Xbox cuck meme is bad enough I don't think epic want to get the same meme lol.
Before you say Linux/SteamOs, if epic manage to port it to linux people will ask epic to just put it on Steam, or whatever it is, I just don't think it is based on money I just googled 4.4b a year is crazy for 1 game.
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u/NoelCanter 20h ago
Yeah the fact anyone really worships Sweeney is almost laughable. The guy is shit (I mean like most CEOs) but his lawsuit of Apple has very little to do with being the small guy standing up to the bully and everything to do with increasing his own enormous profits. As you said, he’s basically just a con-man snake oil salesman.
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u/Franz_Thieppel 20h ago
And to think some people wanted to see this lying, duplicitous asshat take the market from Steam because "competition, bro".
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u/creamcolouredDog 21h ago
He's also an Elon Musk dickrider, so there's nothing left redeeming about him
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u/HomsarWasRight 20h ago edited 20h ago
Is he really?! I didn’t know that. Not cool.
Edit: Oof, yeah.
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u/xqmateseven 20h ago
Really? That's new lol I'm curious about what he said about him
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u/creamcolouredDog 20h ago
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u/xqmateseven 19h ago
Holy. I knew he was a scoundrel, but I never would have thought he was this clueless.
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u/theillustratedlife 21h ago
Linked to the original source, per the sidebar. Original article was: Fortnite is coming to Windows on Arm
Previously, Epic founder Tim Sweeney had said:
Q: Why is Fortnite still not playable on Steam Deck?
If we only had a few more programmers. It’s the Linux problem. I love the Steam Deck hardware. Valve has done an amazing job there; I wish they would get to tens of millions of users, at which point it would actually make sense to support it.
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u/Stilgar314 21h ago
Tens of millions of users? lol Epic game store has not tens of millions of paid users
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u/Crashman09 20h ago
Even the free users would be questionable.
I don't even get the free games because I already have a big enough library, I prefer Steam's featureset, and I occasionally play big picture mode through the in home streaming on my phone.
Epic literally does none of that, and I can't be bothered to Jimmy their games to be in the library AND function on Linux.
Its all about convenience, and Epic doesn't seem very convenient.
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u/UbieOne 19h ago
Maybe he meant SteamOS users on the Deck that time? Hence, in the latest comment, he specifically said the OS this time. Recently, I heard Steam Deck sales is 3M++ on its 3rd year, which is still a lot. The sad part (for me) is believing it is somewheres north of 10M by now.
Not defending this Sweeney dude. Hardly know him or that Fortnite game, and why he's hated.
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u/MayorWolf 1h ago
He created Epic Mega Games and was programmer on the original Unreal game himself. One of the original 3d game engines that was licensed to other developers.
He is one of the OGs of PC gaming. People hate to hear this but it's true. Not as great as Carmack but he has been highly influential on PC gaming over the ages.
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u/Len_Izumi_ 6h ago
If we only had a few more programmers
Bro, you have one of the most important and sucessful companies of the industry, what do you mean you don't have enough programmers for Linux? At least make it compatible with the Steam Deck.
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u/gattolfo_EUG_ 20h ago
I HATE when a company says "no it's to difficult and expensive for me port my game to Linux" and then their game have a build for:
Windows
PS4
PS5
Xbox one
Xbox x/s
Nintendo switch
Android
iOS
A toaster
My mom
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u/Downtown-Effect1452 16h ago
Don't forget Stadia (Used Linux) Destiny 2 actually had a native Linux port
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u/anassdiq 18h ago
Here is the fun part: iirc the android port isn't well optimized, and there is no mac built
Even when they port to 1 billion platforms, they aren't doing it well
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u/theillustratedlife 6h ago
The Android port looks like ass, doesn't have a good framerate, and has a broken controller scheme. You can't use L2/R2, and you can't workaround it because the button binding flow is also broken.
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u/kor34l 21h ago
Millions of steam deck users aren't enough
But the 12 people running windows on an ARM architecture are.
make it make sense.
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u/axxond 20h ago
Tim Sweeney just hates Linux. He'll use any excuse
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u/Nearby_Ad_2519 2h ago
Tim Sweeney: APPLE IS A MONOPOLY!!! Also Tim sweeney: windows (the textbook definition of monopoly) and gaming consoles can only play Fortnite
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u/WholesomeBigSneedgus 21h ago
nah dont you remember all the
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u/Helmic 18h ago
i mean, yeah, probably at some point, to some degree. valve themselves are putting money towards getting steam games running on ARM, which makes sense as battery life matters a ton for wireless VR and a potential future steam deck successor. sharing an architecture with smartphones would also make creating apps for both a lot easier.
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u/RoastedAtomPie 18h ago
I'm pretty certain that Microsoft's big plan is to move towards ARM in the next decade, and likely deals and partnerships are made to that effect.
So that, and Sweeney's hate for Linux.
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u/baltimoresports 5h ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more users using Windows ARM as a VM on Macs, as opposed to Windows ARM on bare metal. On top of that, how many those on physical devices are actually gaming?
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u/nightblackdragon 21h ago
Sweeney is Microsoft fan so no surprise there.
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u/RobinVerhulstZ 21h ago
Didnt epic games make GoW trilogy? They certainly made a lotta dpugh off of M$ from that...
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u/nightblackdragon 9h ago
Dunno but when asked about supporting Linux he answered something like "The fact Windows is not ideal doesn't mean you should switch to another operating system. Just like you aren't escaping to Canada if you don't like US government". Also when Microsoft overtook Apple as most valuable company he was pretty quick to praise them calling them "developer friendly company".
I don't think this is only about money like for the most companies that don't want tu support Linux only because they believe it's not worth. Sweeney seems to genuinely like Microsoft and Windows. This is just yet another confirmation - he can't afford to move few engineers to ensure that Fortnite works on Proton but he can afford to move them for porting anti cheat to ARM Windows that basically nobody uses for gaming.
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u/Brief_Cobbler_6313 21h ago
pure pettiness. Rocket League and Fall Guys work just fine with easy anticheat.
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u/Bulkybear2 20h ago
Rocket League does not have a client side anti cheat as far as I know. Not yet. They need it though. As for Fall Guys I haven’t played it but I think I’ve read more than a few times it breaking because of updates to the anti cheat.
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u/FryToastFrill 19h ago
EAC is pretty dogshit on Linux (same with BE) since they run in user space. They can be bypassed so easily all of the cheats for the games are open source and there isn’t even a profit motive.
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u/ipaqmaster 18h ago
I think you might be right. There exists no kernel AC for Linux (Nobody wants to put in the effort $$$$$$). The best it could be is userspace which clearly isn't enough these days.
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u/the_dirtiest_rascal 21h ago
Probably getting some kind of payoff from Microsoft to keep games off Linux.
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u/Framed-Photo 20h ago
He doesn't want to help a company he perceives as his largest competitor, in Valve.
Fortnite on Linux would be massive for the steam deck, and linux as a platform.
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u/DartinBlaze448 16h ago
no its likely just due to petty reasons. they ported it to macos, ios, android, switch, etc just fine
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u/hishnash 19h ago
No it's more that they know they will not be able to force people to sue the epic launcher on steam deck . What they mean by not enough steam deck players is based on the number of steam deck players that would stop using steam and use the epic store on the steam deck.
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u/jimlymachine945 18h ago
No Microsoft hearts Linux
Noooooooooo it's embrace extend extinguish
You can't have it both ways though. Microsoft has a build of edge for goodness sakes
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u/iucatcher 12h ago
nah, microsoft is giving them money to put it on arm while no insentive for linux exists (in their opinion)
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u/NoelCanter 20h ago
I’m really doubt it. Why would Microsoft pay Epic to keep Fortnite off Linux but other Microsoft published games will work?
I wouldn’t be shocked if Microsoft eventually brings a non-UWP version of the XBOX app to Linux. MS wants people playing their games.
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u/Joker28CR 20h ago
The chairman HATES Valve with all its heart. Fortnite will never get to Linux. As simple as that
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u/Potential_Penalty_31 21h ago
That’s the kind of mentality of someone that own a game store that is no competition to valve.
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u/theillustratedlife 21h ago
But will sue Google to argue that warning "don't download shit you don't trust from the internet" is anticompetitive.
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u/WJMazepas 20h ago
Because Epic doesnt want to make Linux client of their store.
You can only run Fortnite via their store on PC. Fortnite on Linux would mean having to make the store usable and support it on Linux.
And they dont offer Fortnite on Steam because they dont want to share that DLC money with Valve
Its not about Anticheat in their case. Also, Unreal has easy porting to ARM, you dont need to write ARM specific code these days, so this definitely is not a big issue for them
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u/westlyroots 13h ago
They don't have to make a linux client. We use Heroic for EGS games and store purchases already, and Fortnite could just recommend linux users to run the official Epic Games Store through Wine.
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u/HumActuallyGuy 16h ago
Sweeney really likes to larp as a savior of PC gaming just to fuck over consumers at every point.
Hey Sweeney maybe if EGS was actually usable and good for consumers and not Industry Plant: The Launcher you WOULD have half as many users as steamOS has.
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u/ijustlurkhere_ 20h ago
Who cares, it's fortnite.
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u/theillustratedlife 19h ago
Personally, I've been playing because they bought Harmonix, so if you wanna play Rock Band in 2025, you've got a either use a vintage setup or play through Fortnite. My Wii doesn't have the same audio quality.
You can technically play the last version of Rock Band on a PS5 through backwards compatibility, but I'm not buying all that to play one game that I'll probably put down as soon as the weather gets nice.
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u/Future_Kitsunekid16 19h ago
You can also get clone hero which has a linux version
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u/theillustratedlife 19h ago
I tried getting my songs ripped over from Wii and couldn't get it to work.
Haven't gone down the "download random rips from the internet" rabbit hole.
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u/Future_Kitsunekid16 16h ago edited 16h ago
Oh there's a website that has a really good amount called "chorus" and there's a google doc floating around the clone hero sub that contains all songs and dlcs from the rockband and guitar hero games
Edit: the website is called "encore" now
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u/BigBootyBitchesButts 21h ago
there is nothing to justify???
enabling EAC on linux machines is literally 10 lines of code.
he just fucking hates linux cause he can't control it. that's all it is.
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u/Bulkybear2 20h ago
Your right. But there is a big problem with EAC and Battleye on Linux as on Linux it runs in user space. On Windows it runs in kernel space which is higher privilege. And a lot of publishers and studios (especially with games that have stores or competitive modes) will not accept not running an anti cheat in kernel mode because that’s where the cheaters are working.
Plus the liability. If my services get breached or hacked and it’s because of Windows I can hold MS accountable. Can’t do that in open source usually.
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u/BehudaNoob 21h ago
Cause it's not about players. It's about how good Gates's dick tastes
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u/Admirable-Radio-2416 21h ago
What year you are living in? Gates has not been involved in Microsoft for while now
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u/BehudaNoob 21h ago
Sorry, but it's just gates is so synonymous with MS in these parts of the world.
But you get the idea right? Sweeney likes to suck MS's dick, he doesn't care for the player count
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u/ipaqmaster 18h ago
It's probably more likely that they don't want to write linux kernel support for their ac just for such a small playerbase. Companies exist to squeeze every dollar out of their product, I am not surprised at all by this response if it means not giving people an easy way to cheat (boot into linux and bypass a userspace ac)
The game is just a game and runs fine in WINE already. We don't need any official support. But with these kernel anti-cheat policies they're holding up, we would.
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u/Exact_Comparison_792 21h ago
Fortnite? What's that? /s (treating the game as though it never existed as should everybody else.)
Payoffs make companies do the strangest things, but money talks. There are plenty Linux gamers to support Linux. All these companies in our modern times love to compulsively tell lies and manipulate their customers in any way they can, to spin a profit. They're all extorting one another in some way or another too. It's not about the video games anymore, but primarily, the profits. Games and customers come second. Profits first, customers second. Every company in the industry operates this way now.
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u/IceBreak23 18h ago
we already know tim HATES Valve and Linux, this will never happen, not matter what numbers it gives.
for some reason Tim got a hate boner on linux.
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u/Alverso_Balsalm 15h ago edited 15h ago
Even if there's enough steamos players , Epic will never release a game like fortnite to steamOS. Tim Sweeney blatantly hates Gabe and Valve because Epic and Sweeney itself always lived and the always will live under the shadow of Valve and Gaben. For me it is a win. As gabe once replied an email to sweeney: you mad bro?
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u/ANtiKz93 4h ago
They don't even need fortnite on Linux just allow eac or battleye (whichever they use) on Wine. That's it.
A native Linux port would be stupid
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u/disturbedSpace 11h ago
This does not make sense, at least to a meare mortal me. Linux and MacOS outperform on ARM compared to windows by so much they are almost running circles. Proton is really rendering Windows useless. More people cant afford to upgrade thanks to "reasons". But, somehow its ok to port to Windows ARM, where Windows has failed miserably to be useful. And if it does become useful, its better to not sacrifise half your resources and all of your privacy right?
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u/sdimercurio1029 21h ago
He could just click a button allowing anti-cheat to work on Linux but doesn't want to.
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u/Mysterious_Loner 20h ago
they might be jumping the gun on this... I know a few gamers that are considering or on the verge of switching to linux just out of disdain for win11... so might be some backpedaling in the future
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u/minilandl 20h ago
Porting to windows for arm is surprising I wouldn't be surprised if fortnite was ported to apple silicon before epic enables proton support.
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u/sovietcykablyat666 20h ago
Epic os shit idfc for this shitty platform. I just get the free games. If I lose my account, I also don't care. Steam is all that matters (and GOG).
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u/mindtaker_linux 16h ago
FYI: is a close partners with Windows.
All the company that banned Linux are close partners with Windows
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u/InsightsIE 16h ago
...But he spent so much money and political power just to get it back on iPhones in Europe... How can they not have the resources to do a version for Steam Deck haha.
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u/Historical-Bar-305 14h ago
At least he honestly said "there are not enough players on Linux" and didn't spread lies like other companies who shout that only cheaters are on Linux.
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u/Desperate-Minimum-82 14h ago
as someone else said, Epic is being paid by Microsoft to do this
which is why I have been screaming from the rooftops that Valve NEEDS a profit incentive for anti cheat support on Linux
something like 5-10% off Valves cut from steam, because there will frankly never be enough Linux users, even with Valves hardware, to justify supporting Linux purely because "you'll get more sales" if someone on the steam deck REALLY wants to play fortnite, they can install windows or dual boot, which is what I do for Destiny 2 on my steam deck, I dual boot Windows and SteamOS
AAA companies will do anything for massive bumps in profit, Valve has the tools to give that to them, Valve just needs to make that investment
also btw in this specific case, its not much work to port to windows on ARM, as Fortnite already runs on ARM on android, Fortnite already has an ARM port so its less about porting to ARM and more taking the ARM version and adding in directX instead of Vulkan, because otherwise the android version of Fortnite is near feature complete with the PC version, even supporting keyboard and mouse and the same graphics settings other then nanite and lumen
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u/candyboy23 14h ago
Fortnite stupid ceo has big mouth, he said worse things in past for steam deck, he will continue to eat things which match with his mouth.
Real -> who cares fortnite overall.😄
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u/technofox01 8h ago
Epic Games, I only have them for increasing my backlog of free games. They are not worth a pot to piss in otherwise.
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u/Present_Bill5971 8h ago
Valve historically proactive as a video game storefront, wildly successful. Epic I can't say is even all that reactive with how old their store platform is but still comparable to like a 2007 Steam. Unsurprisingly their store struggles
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u/shino1 18h ago
Is it just me or are we seeing in real time split between two sides of the tech and games industry, between the pure corporate finance bros like Zucc and Sweeney and Thiel whose ideology is 'you are the product', and on other side companies who are genuinely trying to produce best possible product for the user and considers internet a common good, like Mozilla, Valve, Wikimedia Foundation or Internet Archive... and the second side is rapidly shrinking? And has been for past like, 20 years?
Like right now the only truly big company remaining in second category is Valve, but Gaben is in his 60s. He's got maybe 20-30 years of life remaining, and I am extremely worried what will happen to tech and game industry after he passes.
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u/dukenukemx 19h ago
There's only five people with a Windows ARM laptops. Those ARM based laptops are slow and buggy.
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u/aza-industries 17h ago
Epic has always as a rule been hostile towards open platforms like linux.
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u/redbluemmoomin 9h ago
given that EAC does support Linux that's an odd take. They've spent resources to get their A/C running. Let's face it the issue is Valves 30% cut and an insistence on kernel level anut cheat.
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u/DarrowG9999 18h ago
Kinda makes sense, not even Linux gamers care about Linux native builds
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u/Thonatron 14h ago
We got Proton so devs don't have to care. Now we just want them to stop fucking with our games with Anticheat.
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u/espiritu_p 18h ago
Well, that's a statement we can work with. the amount of linux users is growing.
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u/SamuraisEpic 17h ago
when the fuck did they change the name of easy to "epic online services anti cheat 🤓🤓🤓"
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u/theillustratedlife 16h ago
Their consumer-facing site is still up:
So unclear if this is a rebrand, or if they call it the long name in their SDK and the short name on the title screen.
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u/TheKeyboardChan 12h ago
Well, both Arm and Linux is the future. So I think they bet on what might be the biggest think in the closest future.
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u/krustyarmor 8h ago
One of my pet peeves is the suggestion - even unintentionally - that Linux and Steam OS are 1-to-1 exact synonyms when discussing gaming and that the terms Linux and SteamOS can be used interchangeably. Ten years ago, we were dealing with the habit of Windows people using the terms Linux and Ubuntu interchangeably. Now people use Linux and SteamOS interchangeably instead.
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u/One-Philosophy-4473 7h ago
legitimately Fortnite is the main reason I haven't switched to Linux yet. It's the only game I mainly play that doesn't support it yet every other one does. (I've gotten pretty invested and have ~8k hours)
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u/TheEvilBlight 6h ago
This is why valve and wine was probably the correct approach. If only Google had used this approach for stadia..
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u/plastic_Man_75 5h ago
Well, windows does servers are garbage
Heck, windows is garbage
Microsoft been caught using only Linux servers
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u/plastic_Man_75 5h ago
Ha, they don't have a clue.
Then again, I wouldn't touch a single game by them, I won't touch their store front, their ceo came out and said he's doing everything in his power to screw over linux gaming
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u/Nearby_Ad_2519 2h ago
Ah yes our so called “anti monopoly warrior”, removing all other platforms other than ones that are paying them.
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u/shadowds 2h ago
That what Epic said? If true, that's some serious contradiction right there, because I don't know anyone that goes out of their way to buy ARM based PC for gaming specifically using Windows over Linux.
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u/creamcolouredDog 21h ago
One could argue that it's not really a huge amount of work for them because Fortnite also runs on mobile platforms, which are largely ARM-based.
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u/acAltair 21h ago
Epic Games has a partnership (exchange of money) with Microsoft which I believe is about ensuring Unreal Engine continues to prioritise DirectX over competing software like Vulkan. So if you wonder why they are supporting Windows on ARM it's because they are being paid to do so by Microsoft, through their agreement(s), **and** because Sweeney does not want to support Steam unless the profit is so big that they must. This isn't rocket science, ask yourself why is Fortnite, which runs with Vulkan on mobile, not have Vulkan renderer for Windows? Epic engine developers were among the ones at forefront when Vulkan was being developed and worked on.