You can now easily run the Epic Store on Linux with Lutris, Epic suggests applying for a grant

I've gone through numerous thoughts and a range of emotions with respect to the Epic store. This latest news about easy running of Epic's windows client via the hard work of the Lutris and WINE teams does soften my dislike of Epic a little. On the one side, the Epic game client now works easily on Linux, and a selection of games (including exclusives not available elsewhere) is now accessible from this store front. On the other side, there is no native Linux game client, and none of the games being sold on the store is native Linux. Also, I find exclusivity to be an abhorrent anti-consumer practice designed to restrict consumer freedom while being beneficial to the store and game publishers.

So, this is my take on it: (1) Get an Epic account and pick up the free games. (2) Avoid buying on the Epic store as much as possible (until the current situation changes). (3) Keep buying native Linux games on stores that support us, typically Steam, GOG, itch.io, Humble, and similar. (4) If you have to buy a Windows-only title, at least try to buy it on Steam and play it with Proton, to boost Linux play and purchase statistics.

Quoting: g000hI've gone through...

I share your views on this. This whole epic store debacle had an extra bite for Linux users as Steam is in-arguably the better store for us, and that just isn't going to change anytime soon. Proton is fantastic. Even if Epic came out with a native Linux store, without proton our options become very limited. Of course the excellent people working on Lutris gives us a nice easy way to avoid that issue.

A big concern right now is that Valve may have to scale back spending on their non-store related projects so that they can focus on seeing off the competition from Epic. I expect that they are deep enough into Linux now as to make that a secure part of their future, but I'd be disappointed if they stopped working on their hardware too.

To play devils advocate on the exclusivity issue, there aren't many ways for Epic to establish themselves as a viable competition to Steam right now, and their fortnite money will only last so long. It is an abhorrent anti-consumer practice for sure but we will have to wait and see whether it is a sign of how they will act in the long term, once fully established. One hopes (without any reason for hoping this) that exclusivity is a temporary measure.

So Linux users can now use the Epic store!
. . . Ask me if I care.

This is what Tim Sweeny thinks of us:

QuoteTim Sweeney
‏ @TimSweeneyEpic
Replying to @JamesWidman @_photex_ and

Installing Linux is sort of the equivalent of moving to Canada when one doesn’t like US political trends.

Nope, we’ve got to fight for the freedoms we have today, where we have them today.
3:44 PM - 15 Feb 2018

If you want to use WINE to help pay his electric bill, go for it. I'll stick with Steam and GOG.

Quoting: g000h(4) If you have to buy a Windows-only title, at least try to buy it on Steam and play it with Proton, to boost Linux play and purchase statistics.

So many reasons to be annoyed by the Epic store I hadn't even thought of this angle. To be sure, a store with no Linux client and no Linux games and nothing like Proton is going to record all Linux users and all Linux purchases as Windows. We can use it but we will be non-persons; all use of the Epic store rather than Steam will look like a drop in Linux gaming. And no matter how many Linux gamers use the store Sweeney will have no motivation to improve our situation because we will be invisible to him.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 18 April 2019 at 4:01 pm UTC

So, developer Lars Doucet did an interesting twitter thread on Epic's money recently. Have a read here.

Based on that thread, it's absolutely mind-boggling to think that it's anything other than absolutely trivial for this company to support our platform. But instead, they'd rather throw a rounding error at Lutris devs to absolve all support burden and keep us at arm's length, while they continue to throw anywhere between $5M-$50M at AAA devs to go exclusive on their store.

Pretty depressing. So, well done Lutris devs. I hope they go for and get the grant. But no thanks, not for me. Not touching anything to do with these anti-consumer... people. And Tim Sweeney... urgh. The hypocrisy just gets my goat.

Quoting: scaineSo, developer Lars Doucet did an interesting twitter thread on Epic's money recently. Have a read here.

Based on that thread, it's absolutely mind-boggling to think that it's anything other than absolutely trivial for this company to support our platform. But instead, they'd rather throw a rounding error at Lutris devs to absolve all support burden and keep us at arm's length, while they continue to throw anywhere between $5M-$50M at AAA devs to go exclusive on their store.

Pretty depressing. So, well done Lutris devs. I hope they go for and get the grant. But no thanks, not for me. Not touching anything to do with these anti-consumer... people. And Tim Sweeney... urgh. The hypocrisy just gets my goat.

A great thread, although I think he missed out marketing expenses, which can be very big--the bigger the studio, the bigger marketing expenses tend to loom, even in proportion to size. However, the basic point that Epic == Swimming In Dough still holds, especially since he flat out deliberately ignored all of their normal revenue sources other than Fortnite; presumably those normal revenue sources would be enough to pay for the marketing.

Instead of grants, let Epic support Linux games in their client and store. Not that I plan to use it, since it's not DRM-free.


Last edited by Shmerl on 18 April 2019 at 4:19 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library GuySo Linux users can now use the Epic store!
. . . Ask me if I care.

Do you care?

Quoting: omer666@epic, look at Quake Champions. That's the kind of games we want to play: Violent, fast-paced FPS. Not some gimmicky nonsense for kids.

I agree. In watching videos of Fortnite, it just looks slow and boring. I play Ballistic Overkill. The game is fast paced, fun to play and runs great on Linux.

Quoting: Audi

Quoting: omer666@epic, look at Quake Champions. That's the kind of games we want to play: Violent, fast-paced FPS. Not some gimmicky nonsense for kids.

I agree. In watching videos of Fortnite, it just looks slow and boring. I play Ballistic Overkill. The game is fast paced, fun to play and runs great on Linux.

I agree. I tried Fortnite on someone else's machine, and I didn't see the appeal at all. Give me Ballistic Overkill any day...

Another +1 for Ballistic Overkill. :)

Quoting: ixnariI applaud the Lutris team for their efforts. However, this is a feature I will not be using for the foreseeable future. The Epic Game Store is so blatantly anti-consumer, it sickens me. I get what they're trying to do: they're trying to make a competitor to Steam and break up Valve's market share. But they are doing this by stepping on every single toe they can see by buying up games and making them exclusive to their store when they weren't before (Metro: Exodus, Satisfactory, etc.).

As a consumer, this irritates me greatly. I want choice, not forced exclusivity. Mr. Sweeney doesn't seem to mind, though. EGS is a very developer-oriented store as this article points out. The consumers are very much second-class citizens at Epic, which quite frankly, would be reason enough for me to ignore EGS completely, even if I weren't using Linux. Articles like this one don't help either. In this one Tim seems to suggest that gamers are ignorant, because we "don't understand" what Epic is doing, which is as we all know, a great way to win over customers.

tl;dr: Epic bad.

I completely agree! Epic tells us Valve is greedy. But the 18% is not enough for Epic either! To increase their income, it seems that they market user data. At least this is what you cand find in EGSs privacy policy.
From data like that, corporations like Epic learned they can treat consumers badly up to a certain point. Consumers simply keep consuming, maybe sometimes even after a short period of shitstorm. That's what Microsoft does with every new Windows version.
I also won't support exclusive deals for the same reason!

Quoting: qptain Nemo

Quoting: Purple Library GuySo Linux users can now use the Epic store!
. . . Ask me if I care.

Do you care?

No. :)

How about we look at the Epic Games Store (EGS) like it's something new? How about acknowledging the need for a business to establish a new product first, and later evaluate expansion opportunities? How about considering the fact that opening the EGS client for Linux-based operating systems also means dealing with a different set of other customer support issues?

My point is that whatever their plans are, it makes perfect sense for them to be cautious with a market that they're new to. It's only logical to take smaller steps and see where it leads, while making sure what is built can sustain itself, because no one wants to burn money just because they have a lot of it.

As a Linux user for nearly 2 decades now, I also want more software available on my distros of choice - or at least the most popular ones. But we know a long list of reasons why Windows still has a large market share and how that impacts the decisions of other software makers. So why not leave them to do whatever they have planned and see where everything goes, without any kind of drama? We can still criticize the exclusive games, in a civilized/mature manner, without throwing them under a bus for not supporting Linux early on.

Aren't we supposed to be "smarter" than the average PC user because we're aware of, care for and uphold privacy and software freedom? Let's also try to be better people, not just more informed. I'm tired of all the drama we see all over the internet. Let's make our community a better one, for fun's sake.

Well, The epic store does not like the Vega 64 which is deemed to not meet the 'minimum system requirements' :)
Also, using the latest stable mesa is not latest enough it seems (https://i.imgur.com/PDrV5QI.png).

Epic store --> to the trash can (for now).
Call me when Epic will use its billions correctly by creating a native client, instead of buying exclusives.


Last edited by AciD on 18 April 2019 at 6:54 pm UTC

Arghhhhh. I installed it and it says I have an incompatible graphics card. Is it because I have an AMD one? My far less powerful, old desktop running Windows 10 with an intel cpu and nvidia gpu can run it (although not very well lmao).

It workedd - I grabbed a free beer thingy - it updated itself and i fiddled with some options - it stoppt working - and now I play Epics 'The Witness' via Steam/Proton.... somehow this feels wrong. On another note: Go grab some money for a job well done Strider!

Quoting: kneekooHow about we look at the Epic Games Store (EGS) like it's something new? How about acknowledging the need for a business to establish a new product first, and later evaluate expansion opportunities? How about considering the fact that opening the EGS client for Linux-based operating systems also means dealing with a different set of other customer support issues?

My point is that whatever their plans are, it makes perfect sense for them to be cautious with a market that they're new to. It's only logical to take smaller steps and see where it leads, while making sure what is built can sustain itself, because no one wants to burn money just because they have a lot of it.

As a Linux user for nearly 2 decades now, I also want more software available on my distros of choice - or at least the most popular ones. But we know a long list of reasons why Windows still has a large market share and how that impacts the decisions of other software makers. So why not leave them to do whatever they have planned and see where everything goes, without any kind of drama? We can still criticize the exclusive games, in a civilized/mature manner, without throwing them under a bus for not supporting Linux early on.

Aren't we supposed to be "smarter" than the average PC user because we're aware of, care for and uphold privacy and software freedom? Let's also try to be better people, not just more informed. I'm tired of all the drama we see all over the internet. Let's make our community a better one, for fun's sake.

You are 100% Right..

IMO, I'm fine with Lutris choosed to received the grants. You know, if EG offers you FN money, take it! Or another greedy devs/pubs will suck it till dry and you'll got nothing but a poop.
But! Lutris MUST openly disclosed the TOC or any sort of agreements with EG in details for sake of good faith to their users.

And do it loudly on all major social medias! I hate it when any companies/organization/groups, if it's good PR-news, they'll announce loudly on many medias (social, press, Tv etc). But, when it's bad/shady PR-news, they put press statement which requires many clicks and/or download nearly 100 MB of PDF documents just to read it and wrote it with small fine prints which requires 200% zoom.

Personally, I won't use it if EG still continuing on timed exclusive deals and still not/refuse improving security and privacy to global decent levels.
Still, I applauded EG for at least showed they cared for Linux even do it's looks like 1/4 cooked meat with astroturf as spices, at least for them we're exists...