Steam Deck compatibility with Easy Anti Cheat in progress as Epic CEO shoots down Fortnite possibilities

There's a "big effort" underway to integrate Easy Anti Cheat with the Steam Deck, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has revealed.

Yesterday, Sweeney responded to a follower on Twitter asking him whether Fortnite would be updated with the latest Easy Anti Cheat software for Linux-based users. Sweeney responded, as you can see below, by saying that Fortnite wouldn't be updated with such software, but the Easy Anti Cheat software compatibility with Steam Deck is being heavily worked on.

So, right now at least, this is confirmation that Fortnite won't actually be available on the Steam Deck when it launches later this month. This is because the Steam Deck utilizes the Linux-based SteamOS, and as such, would prevent Fortnite from booting up due to the need for anti-cheat software to be enabled. 

However, this isn't the final nail in the coffin for Fortnite on Steam Deck. Sweeney's response on Twitter definitely points to ongoing work at Epic Games to get Easy Anti Cheat working with the Steam Deck, which would therefore get Fortnite around the Linux-based operating system and onto the platform.

Last year, we saw a similar conversation taking place around other games for the Steam Deck. The likes of Apex Legends and Destiny 2 looked like they'd be ruled out of running on Valve's new handheld device due to the Linux operating system's anti-cheat requirements. A few months later, Valve responded by saying that if the Steam Deck didn't run a game, they considered it a bug that needs fixing, seemingly pointing to work going on behind the scenes to get big online games running.

For what we made of Valve's new hardware when we got to play it for ourselves, you can head over to our complete Steam Deck preview for more.