Fortnite won't support Steam Deck for fear of cheaters

[Daniel Sims]

Cutting corners: As Valve’s Steam Deck nears release, many hope it to be a turning point for handheld PCs. However it seems one of the most popular games won’t run on it – at least not at first – due to compatibility issues that could be solved in the future.

This week Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed that Fortnite won’t support the Steam Deck. While responding to questions on Twitter, Sweeney said Epic isn’t confident in the current level of compatibility between its anti-cheat solution and the Steam Deck.

Fortnite no, but there's a big effort underway to maximize Easy Anti Cheat compatibility with Steam Deck.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) February 7, 2022

Simply running the game on the device isn't the problem. The Steam Deck uses the Linux-based Steam OS, while Fortnite runs on Windows (it used to have a Mac version). But Steam Deck users will be able to run many games that are not Linux native through compatibility layers. Third party tools like the Heroic Game Launcher were built for things like this.

While Sweeney said work is being done to get Easy Anti-Cheat, which Epic uses, to be compatible with the Steam Deck, there is concern over the large number of Linux configurations, of which Steam OS is one. If everything else fails, users can also simply install Windows on a Steam Deck and play the Windows version of Fortnite.

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.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) February 7, 2022

The first reviews of the Steam Deck are already out, pouring over its performance, battery life, screen quality, and more. It will be interesting to see how Fortnite runs on one (if users get it working) compared to the Nintendo Switch version, Android version, or the GeForce Now version which can be played on iOS now.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93319-fortnite-wont-support-steam-deck-fear-cheaters.html

 

[Puiu]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[Dimitriid]

Again, if you format the drive and run Windows 10 on it (Assuming that at some point a set of windows 10 drivers work for this new APU of course) then it should be perfectly ok for Fortnite.

Sweeney's a jerk of course but he does highlight my main concern: regardless of their claims, Valve is not going to magically convince the entire PC industry to support Linux so online gaming will kind of always be a huge problem for Steam OS.

 

[psycros]

Uh, this is total nonsense. A host of Linux-native games (7 Days to Die, for example) have no problem using EAC without compromise. About 70% of new games released over the past five years have Linux builds. Its not even that big of a coding challenge any more thanks to the newer driver and programming frameworks that mimic the Windows stack on Linux (mimic, not emulate, although you can do that, too).

 

[Puiu]

Uh, this is total nonsense. A host of Linux-native games (7 Days to Die, for example) have no problem using EAC without compromise. About 70% of new games released over the past five years have Linux builds. Its not even that big of a coding challenge any more thanks to the newer driver and programming frameworks that mimic the Windows stack on Linux (mimic, not emulate, although you can do that, too).

For most games supporting Linux is a nightmare so I understand why they are giving a BS excuse for not providing official support. If they did offer support for Linux then they would have to answer to support tickets of players that play on Linux. They are just cutting costs

 

[yRaz]

Honestly, this has been my biggest experience with why games wont work with Linux. DRM and and Anti-Cheat software don't play well with Linux. That said, many developers just give it a pass. ESO and EvE aren't offically supported but they work

 

[m4a4]

I mean, Steam Deck is the hardware. Steam OS is the software. Saying it won't support the Steam Deck on a tech forum just sounds dumb, considering installing Windows is supported on the hardware...

 

[Burty117]

The fact it's even being talked about is a massive step in the right direction. The Steam Deck is doing what it's supposed to be doing, getting developers the message that Linux is a legit operating system for running games and it should be considered for development.

I'm not saying this will change overnight, but Linux has been struggling with convincing devs to take it seriously. With Valve behind it and supporting their own particular Linux distro and hardware, this might at least tempt developers to look into it. Which is more than can be said for the last... forever.

 

[Sausagemeat]

Lmao yeah no it’s because Sweeney refuses to let digital marketplaces take a penny of profit from his games.

But oh well, if anything not having fortnite is a selling point to me.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Too many compromises for this to be a success. I just watched an hour long video of a guy putting the Deck through its paces, and even though he liked it, it confirmed what I suspected and showed more issues that had me laughing out loud.

Let's just say the second chapter of the video was "No tweaking needed", followed by 3-4 chapters of various tweaks! From disabling/unparking cores to capping framerates to 30fps to save battery. Worst case was 80min battery life. Best case was 6 hours. Not quite the 2-8 hours Steam claims.

The Deck is great for tweakers, but I don't see it going any further with any kind of momentum.

 

[Aceseven]

Pretty much proved why apple is fighting him right there.

if they cant deal with porting a game to a new OS, why tf would you trust them with your money info?

 

[Guberian]

The Nintendo Switch runs FreeBSD. Classic company laziness.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

For most games supporting Linux is a nightmare so I understand why they are giving a BS excuse for not providing official support. If they did they would have to answer to support tickets of players that play on Linux. They are just cutting costs

Supporting frotnite, a game that runs on unreal engine (which supports linux) and has already been ported to the switch (which runs FreeBSD) and android and iOS (both unix kernels), is a "nightmare" on linux?

This is not the hill you want to try tying "muh support is hard" to, especially a multi billion dollar company like epic that isnt afraid to set heaps of cash on fire to gain market share.

 

[Puiu]

Too many compromises for this to be a success. I just watched an hour long video of a guy putting the Deck through its paces, and even though he liked it, it confirmed what I suspected and showed more issues that had me laughing out loud.

Let's just say the second chapter of the video was "No tweaking needed", followed by 3-4 chapters of various tweaks! From disabling/unparking cores to capping framerates to 30fps to save battery. Worst case was 80min battery life. Best case was 6 hours. Not quite the 2-8 hours Steam claims.

The Deck is great for tweakers, but I don't see it going any further with any kind of momentum.

That's BS. "No tweaking needed" doesn't mean you can't tweak it as you like. That's the point of the whole thing, you are free to do anything you want, including just using the out of the box settings.

 

[Puiu]

Supporting frotnite, a game that runs on unreal engine (which supports linux) and has already been ported to the switch (which runs FreeBSD) and android and iOS (both unix kernels), is a "nightmare" on linux?

This is not the hill you want to try tying "muh support is hard" to, especially a multi billion dollar company like epic that isnt afraid to set heaps of cash on fire to gain market share.

To be fair, yes Linux support is a nightmare. This is a fact. Don't compare it to the Switch.

But I agree, they should have the resources to power through it and offer Linux support. They are just using a stupid excuse to avoid responsibility and cut costs. How else are they going to grow the cancer that is "third party exclusivity contracts"? They need the extra cash to continue doing anti-competitive practices.