Epic Games Store Linux support is confirmed. During an AMA on the store’s community Discord, an Epic staff member said a native client is coming “soon” — but not in the upcoming preview build, per Steam Deck HQ, which says it requires more work than a dedicated Linux build.
The answer ends a long stretch of workarounds. Steam Deck owners reach Epic and GOG games through community-built launchers such as Heroic, which wraps the Windows clients in Proton. GOG has been building its own native Linux client; Epic, it now appears, is doing the same.
Epic Games Store Linux support: what we know
The preview build is the ground-up launcher rebuild Epic has been teasing — the one that boots roughly five times faster. Linux support will not be in it.
No release date was given. The response, reported by Steam Deck HQ, says only that it is coming.
The Fortnite question
A storefront does not make Fortnite playable on the Deck; that needs Easy Anti-Cheat to open up, and the two are separate problems. In June, Epic posted a job for a senior game security engineer to “champion Linux anti-cheat capabilities for Epic”. Easy Anti-Cheat already works on Linux.
None of this guarantees Fortnite. It does put the weekly free games people keep redeeming a step closer to a first-party client on Linux.
Linux’s share of Steam recently hit a record 5.3%, with Windows dropping below 93%. NVIDIA is also hiring engineers to optimise Linux gaming performance. A native storefront from the company behind those free games makes the platform a little easier to choose.
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Is the Epic Games Store available on Linux?
Not natively yet. Linux and Steam Deck users play Epic games through community-built launchers such as Heroic, which wraps the Windows client in Proton. Epic has now confirmed a native client is coming.
Will Fortnite work on Linux?
Not confirmed. Fortnite’s blocker on Linux is Easy Anti-Cheat, not the storefront. Epic is hiring a security engineer to ‘champion Linux anti-cheat capabilities for Epic’, which could change that, but the AMA response did not mention Fortnite.
When will the Epic Games Store Linux client launch?
No date has been given. Epic says Linux support is coming ‘soon’ but will not be part of the upcoming preview build of the launcher.
