Today Epic Games released to huge bits of news for game developers, and hopefully for gamers everywhere to get a little excited about.
Starting with Epic Online Services, it was announced today that it's live now for developers across almost all platforms (yes, Linux too). It supports Unity, Godot Engine, Unreal Engine, various stores like Steam and consoles. Giving developers a cross-platform service to hook into for matchmaking, lobbies, achievements, stats and a lot more.
The other massive bit of news is Unreal Engine 5, which was also announced today in a blog post giving a preview into its capabilities as a game engine. You can see their demonstration video below highlighting some of the features - they say it's all real-time too:
Direct Link
Epic said Unreal Engine 5 will get a full release in late 2021 with a preview early next year. They've also now waived any royalties when making games with Unreal Engine on the first $1 million in gross revenue.
Curiously, the announcements for both Epic Online Services and Unreal Engine 5 don't mention Linux support. Stadia support also wasn't mentioned. EOS clearly does support Linux though, it just wasn't mentioned in the post. Hopefully it's the same for UE5 especially since UE4 does build for Linux. We've reached out to Epic Games press to confirm, will update if they reply.
Update: An Epic Games staff member said very clearly "linux isnt going anywhere" in reply to questions about Linux support for Unreal Engine 5 in the 'Unreal Slackers' Discord that I've seen today. So we can expect Linux support to continue.
The same developer later mentioned "and the context for that comment is specific to Linux support is staying in the engine and still being worked on". Just so it's real clear.
I surely hope they don't drop Linux support, even if it hasn't been great till now.
And given Epics ties with Tencent, i hope not many games will jump on EOS...
Quoting: ElectricPrismUnreal Engine without Unreal Tournament? Doesn't feel right.
UT on UE4 isn't finished at all, so that's the second engine without a proper UT.
We really need a new arena shooter, fast paced, with bleeding edge graphics (as unreal and quake was in the past) without class bullsh**.
Quotelinux isnt going anywhere
So good news:).
Quoting: AchetaWe got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:Thanks, added it in.
Quotelinux isnt going anywhere
So good news:).
Quoting: AchetaWe got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:
Quotelinux isnt going anywhere
So good news:).
Do you have a screenshot that confirms it?
Quoting: ModofokusQuoting: AchetaWe got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:
Quotelinux isnt going anywhere
So good news:).
Do you have a screenshot that confirms it?
I can provide the screenshot if needed, but anyone who doubts it can check in Unreal Slackers discord.
Quoting: StraToNUhm... Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in French, saying that "something isn't going anywhere" means it's a lost cause. This didn't sound good to me at all when I first read it. Can you please confirm?In English, it means it's quite literally not going anywhere. As in, Linux support is staying.
Quoting: ModofokusNo need, I've seen it personally, otherwise I wouldn't have added it to the article. I think after running this for almost 11 years now that people would trust my word :). Screenshots can just be easily faked anyway. If you're that bothered, I gave the name of the Discord to join and see.Quoting: AchetaWe got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:
Quotelinux isnt going anywhere
So good news:).
Do you have a screenshot that confirms it?
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 14 May 2020 at 3:53 pm UTC
See more from me