In a recent Twitter Q&A, the CEO of Epic Games has confirmed that there are no plans to bring Fortnite onto the Steam Deck. He cited that they don’t have confidence regarding their ability to combat the high amount of cheating under a wide array of kernel configurations. Adding to that, he said that there’s an effort to maximize the compatibility of the company’s Easy Anti-Cheat on the device.
Fortnite on the Steam Deck: Why Won’t It Be A Reality?
As said by Sweeney, the company can’t handle the amount of cheating that occurs in Fortnite especially if it is in a Linux-based OS like in the Steam Deck. Adding to that, the Steam Deck’s OS is based on the Arch Linux system. If you don’t know Linux is an open-source OS and is currently the largest open source project to be used. That means cheaters who have experience with Linux can easily bypass various anti-cheat systems. They can do that if they find a loophole in the Steam Deck.
Valve had previously announced that games that rely on Epic’s own Easy Anti-Cheat system can run on the Steam Deck. Not only that, Heroic, another open-source Linux game launcher can help in running games from the Epic Games Store. So, in a sense, Fortnite can run on the Steam Deck easily and can prevent cheating.
Now, it might be a company decision that Epic does not intend to bring Fortnite to Steam Deck. In recent years, Valve and Epic have become serious competitors and the latter wants to have the upper hand in some cases. Epic makes a lot of money from Fortnite and is definitely their golden goose. Logically, they can’t just put it out onto their competitor’s new product. We’ll have to wait and see what they do next with it.
What do you think of this news? Do you think it is a wise decision to keep Fortnite off the Steam Deck? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
