Epic Games has confirmed that Fortnite is coming to Linux. The announcement came alongside a Linux preview of the Epic Games Launcher, which lists Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Fedora 43 or newer, and Debian 12 or newer as supported. There is no release date for Fortnite yet.

The catch is anti-cheat

Fortnite has never run on Linux, including through Proton, because Epic would not enable Easy Anti-Cheat’s Linux support for it. Epic is now building EAC Linux v2, and says it will bring Fortnite to Linux once the new system works with a critical mass of distribution maintainers.

EAC Linux v2 does not use a custom kernel driver. Instead it relies on features already in the kernel:

• eBPF programs to protect game memory and detect cheats; our eBPF explainer covers how these work
• A systemd service that runs only while a protected game is running

Reported requirements

According to coverage of Epic’s announcement, EAC Linux v2 expects Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and signed kernels, with measured boot and IOMMU support also reported for non-handheld systems. That is the controversial part: custom kernels, unsigned out-of-tree modules, and machines with Secure Boot off may be excluded. Steam Deck support is not confirmed yet. Check Epic’s own documentation before drawing conclusions, as details may change before launch.

If you want to keep a custom kernel while using Secure Boot, our guides to Secure Boot and enrolling your own keys explain the options. For everything else, Proton remains the main way to play Windows games on Linux.