Steam Deck Will Have BattlEye Anti-Cheat Support At Launch
Valve just announced that the upcoming Steam Deck would have anti-cheat support with BattlEye. It assured to work closely with anti-cheat makers EAC and BattlEye to ensure a smooth gaming experience on the Linux-based Steam Deck.
Moreover, Epic Games announced that EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat) now has native support for Linux and macOS. Along with support for Linux and macOS, the EAC will also work with the Proton and Wine compatibility layers of the Linux-based Windows gaming.
BattlEye for Proton on Steam Deck
In yesterday’s tweet, BattlEye made the announcement for Steam Deck support. However, the tweet said this about the anti-cheat, “This will be done on an opt-in basis with game developers choosing whether they want to allow it or not.”
The news of BattlEye’s support for Steam Deck comes as great news for the future of Linux gaming. Since anti-cheat softwares have a history of not working greatly with Proton; additionally, if anti-cheat fails to work with Proton, so will the game.
All the while, the developers would still need to patch their games. However, popular games like Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, Halo, and more are expected to run with ease upon Steam Deck’s launch. In case you’re wondering, games like Fall Guys, Chivalry 2, Dying Light: Bad Blood, Fortnite, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Knockout City, etc. are all EAC supported.
Furthermore, Epic Games suggested that it’s easier for game developers to patch their EAC games. With the release of the latest SDK, developers can start to initiate the working of anti-cheat support for Linux, specifically for Proton on Steam Deck. The process can be started on the Epic Online Services Developer Portal with just a few clicks to make things easier.
Probably, the process to initiate BattlEye support would be similar, making things easier. For those of you who can’t wait to game on Proton, you can check the supported list of games that work with a compatibility layer here.
