Fortnite Is Coming to Linux
Dimas Ibnu15/10/2026
6 min read
Fortnite is coming to Linux, Epic Games saidon 14 October, but only after it finishes EAC Linux v2, a rebuilt version of its Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) software. There is no release date yet, and the Steam Deck doesn’t currently meet the new anti-cheat’s requirements.
Fortnite will arrive through the new Epic Games Launcher, which went into Preview on Linux for the first time on the same day. Epic’s FAQ lists Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or later, Fedora 43 or later and Debian 12 or later as supported for the launcher. Installing it won’t get you Fortnite yet, though. Epic says the game will follow once EAC Linux v2 works with “a critical mass of distro maintainers”, the people who package and configure each Linux distribution.
Help us bring more awesome games to Linux This is an open call to Linux distro maintainers and the wider Linux community, with a goal to work together and bring fair multiplayer gaming to Linux players. We’re rebuilding our Linux anti-cheat into EAC Linux v2 so that Linux players can have a similar level of protection against cheaters as Windows users do. We’ll pilot EAC Linux v2 with Fortnite first, with wider availability for game developers once we’ve validated its effectiveness. Learn more and get in touch:
https://t.co/YX00cdMI18— EOS Status (@EOSStatus) October 14, 2026
Why Fortnite Hasn’t Been on Linux Until Now
Easy Anti-Cheat has supported native Linux games since 2014, and since 2021 it has also covered Windows games running on Linux through the Wine and Proton compatibility layers. That support is opt-in for each game, though, and Epic says many developers never switched it on because the Linux version couldn’t match the protection of the Windows version. Fortnite was one of them.
Tim Sweeney made the same point in February 2022, when Epic’s CEO said, “We don’t have confidence that we’d be able to combat cheating at scale under a wide array of kernel configurations.” Epic’s new technical blog explains why that matters for a game like Fortnite. Cheating has become a “billion-dollar market”, with operators selling regularly updated cheat subscriptions that need little technical skill, and Epic says that without effective anti-cheat those operators can drive away enough players to make a game financially unviable to run. Getting Fortnite to launch on Linux was never the hard part. Policing it there was.
How EAC Linux v2 Works Without a Kernel Driver
On Windows, EAC relies on a kernel driver that starts when a protected game launches and stops when the player exits. EAC Linux v2 drops that approach. Instead of an equivalent kernel module, it uses a systemd service that runs only while a protected game is active, plus Epic’s own eBPF programs, small pieces of code that run inside the Linux kernel. Working with Linux’s built-in security features, those programs stop other processes from reading or writing the game’s memory and watch for suspicious behaviour.
Epic says this brings its Linux protection “much closer to par with Windows” in the near term. The catch is that, without its own driver, Epic has to trust the kernel the game runs on. That is why nearly every requirement below exists to prove the kernel and boot process haven’t been tampered with.
EAC Linux v2 Requirements for Your Linux PC
Epic has published the conditions a system must meet before a protected game will launch:
| Requirement | What it does |
|---|---|
| Signed kernel and kernel modules | Everything loaded into the kernel must be signed with a key Epic recognises. Separately distributed modules, such as NVIDIA GPU drivers, must be built and signed by an organisation with an approved key, so user-modified kernels don’t qualify on the same terms. |
| Secure Boot (enabled in BIOS) | Verifies the signatures of the code that runs as the system starts. |
| TPM 2.0 and measured boot (TPM enabled in BIOS) | Records which code and configuration actually started the system. |
| Kernel lockdown in integrity mode | Restricts changes to the running kernel, even by administrators. |
| BPF Linux Security Module (LSM) active | Lets Epic’s eBPF checks work with the kernel’s security framework. |
| kexec disabled | Stops the system switching to another kernel without a full reboot, which would leave the measured boot record no longer matching the running kernel. |
| IOMMU enabled in BIOS and kernel, passthrough off (non-handheld devices only) | Controls memory access from external devices. |
| Every enrolled Machine Owner Key (MOK) recognised by Epic | The shim bootloader often trusts any enrolled MOK for module signature checks, so one unrecognised key can undermine the chain. |
Epic’s first list of recognised signing keys covers Canonical’s keys for Ubuntu, plus keys for Fedora, Debian, openSUSE and Universal Blue, the project behind Bazzite. That list only tells EAC which signatures to trust. It isn’t a certification that Fortnite will run on those distributions, and Epic notes the required security features are not available on every distro and may need configuration changes to switch on. Epic will manage the list at first, aims to open-source it later, and is asking maintainers to align their default configurations so players have fewer settings to change themselves.
If you try to launch a protected game without meeting the requirements, you’ll get an error message, and Epic says it won’t suspend an account for cheating on that basis alone. You also don’t have to run a locked-down setup all the time, because Epic says players can set up a dedicated boot entry for protected games. That option is what makes these demands workable for anyone who uses the same machine for development or other tinkering, although the MOK rule still applies to every key enrolled on the system, whichever boot entry you pick.
Fortnite Tests EAC Linux v2 Before Other Games
Fortnite will be the first game to run EAC Linux v2 in a live environment, and Epic plans to improve the system based on those results before offering it to other developers. Games that already use the existing EAC Linux support won’t be forced across. Their developers can stay on the older, more compatible version or move to v2 for stronger protection.
One question the announcement leaves open is how Fortnite will actually run. Epic’s launcher FAQ says only the launcher itself is native to Linux, and that many games built for Windows may need a compatibility layer. Epic hasn’t said whether Fortnite will ship as a native Linux build or run through one.
Steam Deck Support and a Steam Release
The Steam Deck is the biggest gap. Epic’s technical blog says the handheld “does not support the required features” of EAC Linux v2, adding that Epic is talking with Valve and hopes to support it in the future. The fact that Universal Blue’s key is on the recognised list doesn’t change that, since the Deck’s own missing features are the problem.
Epic engineering director Rick Deist told The Verge the company is “investigating” compatibility with SteamOS, Valve’s Linux-based operating system, and has no timeline for the Linux version of Fortnite. Epic Games Store vice president and general manager Martin Keely also told The Verge that Epic does not plan to bring Fortnite to the Steam store. Epic hasn’t said which features the Steam Deck lacks or when Fortnite will reach any Linux machine.
EAC Linux v2Easy Anti-CheatEpic GamesEpic Games LauncherFortniteFortnite LinuxLinux GamingSteam DeckSteamOS
