Epic Games Comments On Planned Linux Distribution Support (gamingonlinux.com) 32
Epic Games says it plans to support its new Linux launcher on as many distributions as possible, specifically naming Fedora, SteamOS, CachyOS and Omarchy. GamingOnLinux's Liam Squires-Hand reports: Speaking to Jake Jones, Communications Director at Epic Games, they said: "Hey Liam! The new Epic Games Launcher is still in Preview and we plan to support as many Linux distributions as possible, including Fedora, SteamOS, Cachy, Omarchy, and more. We're testing and evaluating packaging formats for distribution, and we'll restore AppImage this month."
With that in mind, until things settle down, you might see different packaging types appear or disappear until they decide firmly how they plan to support different distributions each with their own different packaging formats. Or, perhaps they might see the Flatpak light and just put it up officially on Flathub. Would make it even easier for SteamOS then too with Flathub, since it would just be a quick pop to Desktop Mode to install it directly in the Discover app.
With that in mind, until things settle down, you might see different packaging types appear or disappear until they decide firmly how they plan to support different distributions each with their own different packaging formats. Or, perhaps they might see the Flatpak light and just put it up officially on Flathub. Would make it even easier for SteamOS then too with Flathub, since it would just be a quick pop to Desktop Mode to install it directly in the Discover app.
Epic launcher on steamOS is going to be funny (Score:5, Interesting)
Considering all the bitching and moaning from Epic's leadership about how bad and evil Steam is with their "monopoly", they don't seem to be stopping them putting their launcher on SteamOS.
Weird, that.
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I think it's a good move and long overdue. Steam needs real competition in the market. Though I don't see much reason why I would choose the Epic games store over steam, especially given that my steam library is already overflowing with games I bought on sale and have barely found time to play.
I guess some more Epic store exclusives would help. And if Epic bucked the cartel and undercut that whopping 30% that Steam charges to sell through their store, they could attract some real talent.
Re:Epic launcher on steamOS is going to be funny (Score:5, Insightful)
Epic's problem isn't with that. It's with the fact that they built a consumer store that focuses on serving the sellers first and foremost.
Sweeney himself stated that this is going to be their competitive edge back in the day when they started the store.
Turns out, sellers may love you lots for making it awful for buyers with no key store functions like being able to post bad reviews, or have discussion forums to point out problems with games, but those same people also are buyers. And a lot of other buyers look for opinions on the game before buying.
May Gaben live forever, because otherwise the "fuck the consumer, it's all about the seller" storefronts like Epic (and basically every other major digital store today) will become a norm. And you'll have to learn to love eating shit. Because that's all that will be on offer.
It's sad, because once Epic's leadership realized that this isn't going to work, they were locked into the model by their deals with their sellers that there will be no steam style consumer friendly features on their store. So they started giving games for free instead. Except that most of those free games are even worse than Epic store itself.
Their latest "please don't pay attention to us not being able to have consumer friendly features" marketing drive has been about pretending that getting launcher start a couple of seconds faster is the thing people care about.
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The problem is EGS d
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Huh. I didn't know they only take 18%. Though, admittedly, I also didn't know they had no way for users to review the games. I just assumed they would, as it seems like a key element to such a store. I guess Steam spoiled me.
Oh well, you have given me yet another reason to continue not using the Epic Game Store.
Re: Epic launcher on steamOS is going to be funny (Score:2)
Well, they offer me free games. Not sure how they're going to make that profitable, though, when I can get free games there and buy games on steam, which I trust more.
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Bonus points that Epic Launcher will launch games 100% reliant on Proton of which Valve has been one of the most instrumental contributors to making games function with Proton. Epic also produced several games which relied on the SteamVR API.
Epic are a bunch of worthless fucking leeches.
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Hard disagree on leeches part. They make Unreal Engine, which powers basically all of the most graphically intensive games out today. A significant percentage of games on steam are UE games.
So by your own logic of "things on one store are made with tech developed by the other store's owner", they are not leeches.
I think this "those are hate are everything bad" attitude needs to stop. There are plenty of things to critique Epic for. You don't need to make criticism look less appropriate by claiming that they
Re: Epic launcher on steamOS is going to be funny (Score:1)
Unreal Engine isnâ(TM)t free. Itâ(TM)s not really the same.
Re: Epic launcher on steamOS is goisng to be funny (Score:1)
If you think steam is free for developers while unreal isn't, you should try selling things on steam.
You'll realize that steam is about as "free" as "unreal". As in, not at all.
If they don't support Linux in their games (Score:2)
Then why do I care? To me the only reason to have EGS on your machine is to get games that you can't get on Steam, and the only one I care about is Fortnite. Are they planning on supporting Fortnite in Linux?
Re: If they don't support Linux in their games (Score:2, Flamebait)
You're confusing issues. Most of their games work fine on Linux in proton. But the one you want won't.
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It doesn't help Linux adoption if 98% of games are playable but that remaining 2% is what 70% of gamers are playing.
There has been some chatter from epic about making some of their anti cheat tools work under Linux and it would be a big deal if that will happen. Take away gaming and a lot of people would just switch to Linu
Re: If they don't support Linux in their games (Score:3)
> It doesn't help Linux adoption if 98% of games are playable but that remaining 2% is what 70% of gamers are playing
Well that isn't the case. It's not "70% of gamers are playing", it's "played 70% of the time". Extraction shooters, battle royale shooters, mobas and gacha MMOs are played a lot in terms of hours played and in terms of money extracted. But far less so in head count. Unless you're addicted to one of these games, it doesn't matter much whether Steam has them or not. If you're trying to sell
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There has been some chatter from epic about making some of their anti cheat tools work under Linux and it would be a big deal if that will happen.
EPIC has already announced their EAC Linux v2 which uses eBPF on systems that meet the requirements (secure boot, tpm, distro signed kernels and modules, lockdown modes; sort of equivalent to the Win 11 EAC requirements, which can be a bit controversial with some Linux users). They have not yet provided a formal release date yet, just saying it's coming, and expect it to work on most of the major distros that already have a robust building and signing process.
Re: If they don't support Linux in their games (Score:4, Informative)
You're confusing issues. Most of their games work fine on Linux in proton. But the one you want won't.
No it's not confusing in the slightest. The company pretending to be all in on Linux is only interested in selling you shit on Linux. They don't support Linux. The most popular game on the planet supports literally every platform except for Linux. Worse they bought a popular game (Rocket League) which had native Linux support and then killed that Linux support.
There's nothing confusing about inviting Epic to go eat multiple bags of dicks and they should get no points for vibe coding a shitty barely functioning shop to sell you emulated shit on Linux.
Especially since most of what they sell you will rely on the work provided by that "abhorrent" (Sweeney's words, not mine) company Valve's work they contributed to Proton.
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I'm not as mad at Epic as you are, but sure, they can eat several bags of dicks, whatever. However, factually, whether they are or aren't all in on Linux remains to be seen. I won't make a prediction but I will say that I think it makes sense for them to embrace it now for all the same reasons it makes sense for Valve to continue to do so. Valve paved the way and did the hard work, and Epic would like to come from behind and be a solid #2.
To that I say, bring it on. Even if they are only interested in selli
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Who knows, maybe they will become significant contributors.
Let me just say, I hope they won't be. While there are many Unreal Engine haters I think it's a pretty solidly designed game engine. However literally everything else Epic has produced in the past decade has been rubbish.
Especially their most recent effort at an Epic store upgrade. Vibe coded, barely functional, buggy, and then proceeded to throw shade at the competition which has withstood the test of time simply because it launched faster. It shows you quite clearly how their priorities lie when programming, and I don't think that would be a benefit to anything in the open source world.
That said I agree with you, more investment in Linux as a platform, whatever the reason, is a good thing.
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They've already shared how EACv2 is going to work. Rather than a super invasive kernel module, like in Windows, they are taking advantage of the fact that you can really lock down the Linux kernel. Secure boot, TPM 2.0, measured boot, kernel lockdown mode, kernel + modules signed with a known key, kexec disabled, IOMMU enabled, and an eBPF LSM module. The most invasive thing is the eBPF LSM module, but that isn't a full kernel module with full access to everything like in Windows. The most annoying thin
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The most popular game on the planet supports literally every platform except for Linux.
No, Minecraft Java runs perfectly normally in Linux.
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I suspect the Epic Launcher itself also won't run without a fully "secured" OS. There won't be a security distinction from that game.
Re: If they don't support Linux in their games (Score:4, Informative)
You can run the current epic games launcher and most epic games on Linux without trouble. I use lutris.
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A Linux without secure boot engaged?
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Yeah. Not just that, it's Devuan. Anyhoo I haven't actually run an Epic game in who knows how long now so I'm not sure if they still work or not. Actually, now I'm wondering if it's possible to just install the Epic games store as a Steam game... hmm, reportedly possible but uneven. Sounds true.
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I had to look that up ... ah, without Systemd. Understood. :)
Shows my lack of engagement too.
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JIC you were wondering, I installed current Lutris from the tarball, got everything updated, and it still works. I launched The Outer Limits successfully.
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Because Epic is filled to the brim with morons and they don't give a fuck about Linux. They still won't actually give a fuck about Linux even after fully "supporting" it.
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Whether I especially want this however, that's a different matter. But for those that do - yes, support efforts have been stepped up recently.
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Then why do I care? To me the only reason to have EGS on your machine is to get games that you can't get on Steam, and the only one I care about is Fortnite. Are they planning on supporting Fortnite in Linux?
Yes, Epic is planning on supporting Fortnite on Linux [medium.com] as soon as they upgrade their anticheat system and enough distros support it.
Yo Dipshits (Score:3, Insightful)
Where's Rocket League on Linux? Remember the game you bought out to get people to use your failing platform for which you instantly killed the Linux client? No one wants your AI vibe coded bullshit website pretending to be a store. Give us the actual god damn games back.
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Rocket League runs great on Linux... using Valve's Proton on Steam :)
In all seriousness, my experience is that running Windows games in Proton is better than native Linux games.