Epic Games have announced their brand new Epic Games Launcher refresh has a Preview available, along with Native Linux support and Fortnite is coming to Linux.

As always, more nuance is inside, but some major bullet points:

  • native Linux support for the launcher
  • very openly vibe coded, if that’s a line in the sand for you
  • Fortnite will be, but is not yet, updated with a new version of Easy Anti Cheat to be compatible with Linux. Yes, there are versions of EAC compatible with Linux today, but not up to Epic’s standards of cheat prevention, and whatever is up to their standards requires coordination with distro maintainers.
  • their FAQ openly mentions the necessity of compatibility layers, but I don’t see any mention of native integration with them
  • rustbuckett@programming.devEnglish
    25·
    16 hours ago

    I’m sure I’ll get shredded for this, but I don’t understand what everyone is so mad about. This is a net good thing that will raise Linux awareness and adoption. You don’t have to install the Epic Launcher or Fortnite and its anticheat if you don’t want to. And if you’re worried about the kernel level change - if that is what’s required - then compile your kernel without it. Or don’t load the module if that’s how it’s implemented. And “working with distributions” doesn’t even make sense. The kernel is the kernel. I know there are variations, but that does not a distribution make. If you don’t want the change, fork it and remove it. Or just use the fork where some one else did it for you. This is the whole point of Linux. It belongs to all of us and for each of us to the way we want.

    Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

    • Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      10 hours ago

      What Epic wants to do is make it so their game only runs if the kernel and its modules are all signed by an approved partner, hence the “working with distributions” bit. You wouldn’t be able to run any game with EAC if you customized your system setup, which includes running third-party drivers for your GPU, sound, and/or network cards, something that’s sometimes necessary on Linux due to poor manufacturer support.

      Their “solution” to this is to suggest you make two boot entries - one for your actual system, and a second, locked-down one that passes attestation to play their games. That’s a huge ask for a game whose playerbase is mainly children.