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Unreal Engine 5 announced, Epic Online Services are now online

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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:

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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.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Termy May 13, 2020
The geometry and lighting looks amazing, the water and face not so much...
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...
chr May 13, 2020
I'm not too interested about UE5 (though I appreciate the competition to Godot and Unity), but I find the Epic Online Services sounding pretty amazing. Granted the devs have to sign some agreements which might or might not be favoring data collection or some lock-in. Any steps towards user liberation (lowering the cost to moving between platforms) is a really good thing. It forces the platforms to compete on the quality and features of their services rather than lock in their customers. I love Valve for what they've done for Linux and intend to continue being kinda loyal to them, but there always a very slight unease at the back of my mind due to the gap between my values (openness and freedom) and the massive lock-in that Steam is providing for me. Hooray.
fagnerln May 13, 2020
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**.
I hope UE5 has good support for both Linux and WebGL (and WebGPU when that eventually becomes a thing). But I'm not particularly optimistic about either given the state of UE4.
Acheta May 14, 2020
We got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:

Quotelinux isnt going anywhere

So good news:).
Liam Dawe May 14, 2020
Quoting: AchetaWe got a confirmation on Discord from Epic employee after asking about UE5 and Linux support:

Quotelinux isnt going anywhere

So good news:).
Thanks, added it in.
Modofokus May 14, 2020
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?
StraToN May 14, 2020
Uhm... 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?
Acheta May 14, 2020
Quoting: Modofokus
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?

I can provide the screenshot if needed, but anyone who doubts it can check in Unreal Slackers discord.
Liam Dawe May 14, 2020
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: Modofokus
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?
No 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.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 14 May 2020 at 3:53 pm UTC
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