Epic Games just announced a big upgrade to Epic Online Services, which will now include a full toolkit to enable developers to do cross-play.
Currently, the initial release of the new tools in the EOS SDK supports "PC" (they mean Windows), but they fully plan to support Linux and macOS as well. They already support Epic and Steam directly with more stores coming and consoles / mobile support coming later. EOS includes a special overlay (like the Steam Overlay) that brings together Steam and Epic friends and all the integration into a single list.
For game developers, this sounds thoroughly useful.
What it includes:
- All friends, one place. Steam and Epic Games Store friends merge into one overlay allowing players to see all friends in a single list.
- Integrated game invites. In-game, players can search and send invites to friends across Steam and the Epic Games Store, making connecting and playing together easy.
- Account linking. Onboarding without emails or password prompts. With just a few clicks, Steam players can jump into a game while an Epic Games account is created under the hood for their Steam account.
- Update-free improvements. When games are installed, the crossplay features are distributed via a self-updating in-game overlay. Players can enjoy new features and improvements without needing to update anything themselves.
- Plug-and-play SDK. Each Epic Online Services toolset is self-contained, so developers can mix and match the services they want to implement, incorporate the things they want, and leave the rest. Crossplay tools are no different.
Hopefully people will use this over Vivox, which still doesn't support Linux and can be quite problematic with Proton too. Even if you don't particularly like the Epic Games Store, what they offer with Epic Online Services seems pretty great.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Paraphrasing a popular Tuscan adage:
Better a disconnected steam pal in your team than a "eos user" in your lobby.
Better a disconnected steam pal in your team than a "eos user" in your lobby.
3 Likes, Who?
Dribbleondo Jun 18, 2022
Quoting: Mountain ManEpic's opinion of Linux is made clear in the fact that Fortnite does not have a native Linux version. Not that I have any interest in Fortnite, but it is Epic's biggest game at the moment and the only one they are actively developing. There's also the fact that while Unreal Engine technically does have Linux support, it lags far behind Windows (you have to compile the source code yourself!).
They're also actively developing Rumbleverse too. And EAC, and Unreal 4/5, and overseeing Rocket League and Fall Guys.
Epic's opinion of Linux has always been that they support it, its comments like these just try to downplay this because it's easier to be negative toward the company than even giving them a little credit where its due.
Also, unless i'm missing something here, isn't the base source code for UE4's code the exact same as it would be for Windows? If anything, that makes it more up to date than the precompiled versions you'd use on Windows/ MacOS otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, Epic really should do precompiled versions of UE4 and 5 for the popular Linux flavors too.
Last edited by Dribbleondo on 18 June 2022 at 4:01 pm UTC
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This doesn't change the fact that I won't be supporting them but, I'm glad they'll be supporting GNU+Linux. Newcomers and fans of their games will be able to migrate over.
2 Likes, Who?
Mountain Man Jun 19, 2022
Quoting: DribbleondoEpic Game Store doesn't have a Linux version. None of the games they sell are for Linux, nor do they offer their own solution for Linux compatibility like Valve's Proton. Their biggest game has no Linux version. And asking Linux customers to compile their own source code of Unreal Engine with all the complications and pitfalls that are inherent to such a process can hardly be counted as meaningful support when Windows users can simply download the binary and be done with it. I'm also not sure how Epic "overseeing" other projects that also don't have any kind of Linux support helps your argument. When you say that they "support Linux", I think what you mean is that they pay lip service to supporting Linux without actually supporting it.Quoting: Mountain ManEpic's opinion of Linux is made clear in the fact that Fortnite does not have a native Linux version. Not that I have any interest in Fortnite, but it is Epic's biggest game at the moment and the only one they are actively developing. There's also the fact that while Unreal Engine technically does have Linux support, it lags far behind Windows (you have to compile the source code yourself!).
They're also actively developing Rumbleverse too. And EAC, and Unreal 4/5, and overseeing Rocket League and Fall Guys.
Epic's opinion of Linux has always been that they support it, its comments like these just try to downplay this because it's easier to be negative toward the company than even giving them a little credit where its due.
Also, unless i'm missing something here, isn't the base source code for UE4's code the exact same as it would be for Windows? If anything, that makes it more up to date than the precompiled versions you'd use on Windows/ MacOS otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, Epic really should do precompiled versions of UE4 and 5 for the popular Linux flavors too.
Bottom line: By their actions, Epic, like GoG, is telling us they really don't care if they have any Linux customers or not.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: EWGThis doesn't change the fact that I won't be supporting them but, I'm glad they'll be supporting GNU+Linux. Newcomers and fans of their games will be able to migrate over.Yes, well, I'll be significantly less un-excited when they actually do support GNU+Linux, rather than just planning to.
1 Likes, Who?
Chronarius Jun 19, 2022
I couldn't care less. Epic "Fail" Games is the worst Company ever. A few weeks ago they got me to create an account with a free "Borderlands 3" and before I could download the game they locked account . Without any information what I did wrong?!?! The only information I got was: Can not be reactivated! What the hell?!?! 🤬
Well, they can keep their 💩💩💩 and rot in hell!!!
Well, they can keep their 💩💩💩 and rot in hell!!!
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