Epic's EAC Now Supports Linux/Steam Deck With BattlEye On The Way

The Steam Deck now has support for Epic’s EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat), with Epic announcing this morning that the anti-cheat software now supports Linux, Mac, and Steam Deck. Back when the Steam Deck was announced, one larger issue with it was that some of the biggest games on the Steam platform wouldn’t be supported.

This of course was due to the fact that those games used anti-cheat software which didn’t work with Linux at the time. And since the Steam Deck is based on Linux, that means the Steam Deck wouldn’t support games like Apex Legends and Dead By Daylight. Among others.

But EAC and Steam Deck have become fast friends. And while developers will still need to implement support, things are well on their way.

Now that EAC supports Steam Deck, all that’s left is BattlEye

With EAC on board, BattlEye is next. According to a report by The Verge, the CEO of BattlEye has confirmed that it’s actively working on getting the anti-cheat software up and running on the upcoming handheld. This means there’s a good chance it’ll be ready for when the Steam Deck launches.

Which would open up compatibility for a handful of other popular games. Destiny 2 for example, uses BattlEye. And for the last few days so far this week, it’s been the number three most popular game on Steam. Dropping to number five as of today, September 24.

Other games that use BattlEye include Rainbow Six: Siege, and PUBG. Both of which are also wildly popular.

The Steam Deck begins shipping December 2021

While not new information, the Steam Deck begins shipping in December of this year. Which means there’s still a couple of months left for support to pop up for things like BattlEye.

With that time frame laid out, those who reserved a Steam Deck back during its announcement will get them before the holidays. But it’s also worth noting that not all reservations will be getting them this year. Within about a half an hour of reservations going live, shipments were pushed out to 2022 and beyond.

Valve still hasn’t sent out emails to reservation holders to make the full purchase. That will likely come a little later this year prior to when shipments are supposed to start.