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Update: Turns out, this is true. As a Valve developer did reply to a user on the VKx Discord to say "they're probably referring to the ongoing conversation, which is currently stalled by the NDA, yes" which I've now seen myself—thanks for the tip, MartinPL.

Update #2: On Feb 25th Easy Anti-Cheat did finally email back to say "Thank you for contacting us! Our apologies for the delayed response. We are in a process of working with Valve to bring the support for Steam Play. However, there is currently no ETA for this."

Original article

Treat this with a pinch of salt since we've been unable to confirm it, Valve and Easy Anti-Cheat are apparently working to get it supported with Steam Play.

I've held off on writing about this, as I have tried to reach the EAC team multiple times and I've also tried speaking to Valve. Neither have replied to me, sadly, but the people over at EAC did reply to one user on Reddit to say this:

Thanks for reaching out!

While Easy Anti-Cheat already supports native Linux games, unfortunately it is not compatible with the Steam Play emulation yet. We are currently working with Valve to bring the support for Steam Play as well. However, at this time we cannot promise a release date.

Our apologies for the inconvenience. Despite the troubles, hope you have a great day!

I'm not entirely sure why neither party decided to reply to my questions on this, it could be that they were trying to keep it hush-hush until they had something to show for it.

It is quite exciting if true though, as getting EAC working in Wine/Steam Play would be massive, as it's the only thing currently holding back multiple titles from working well when played on Linux. With that in mind, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising if they are working on it given how it's going to be essential considering how many multiplayer games use it.

Valve/EAC, if you're reading this don't be afraid to reach out, I don't bite.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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29 comments
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Maath Feb 15, 2019
I wonder why Valve is putting so much effort into supporting Linux. My theory is that, currently, Valve and Microsoft are in direct competition, since Microsoft also develops games and I guess they even have a digital storefront. They could really use their ownership of the primary platform to make things difficult for Valve, and really other developers like Epic.

So, to have Linux support seems like having an alternative in your back pocket, preventing Microsoft from overreach.

Just a theory.
Linuxwarper Feb 16, 2019
Quoting: TermyI'm kind of baffled that Epic is allowing collaboration with Valve ^^
Glad to hear this though :D

Quoting: BielFPsI hope they don't give up on this, since EAC is developed by a company owned by Epic, and for then would be better to "not help the competitor".

Unless they're actually planing something with linux too, who knows...
I think Epic holding Valve back would be bad pr for them. They are already disliked for their anti consumer practices. If they work against Valve they will, hopefully, get much more backlash from PC community.
Valve could, and rightfully so, rub salt into wound that is Epic Store by pointing out how the company has ported Fortnite for so many platforms but neglected Linux, and now they are even stopping progress to make games available for the platform.
It would be disgusting if that actually happens.


Last edited by Linuxwarper on 16 February 2019 at 1:19 am UTC
Comandante Ñoñardo Feb 16, 2019
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThis can explain the lack of PROTON updates.....
Two months since the last one... That is a lot of time!

ups! I have to correct myself...
There is a new PROTON version!!!

Quote3.16-7:

Fix for fullscreen behavior in Into The Breach.
Fix for crashes in some d3d9 games on Mesa.
Fix for crash when launching certain games, including Path of Exile, the Bloons series, and the Naruto Shippuden series.
Fix for games with special characters in paths, including LEGO Harry Potter.
Improved controller behavior in some games, especially Unity-based games like Subnautica and INSIDE.
Update DXVK to v0.96.
Update FAudio to 19.02.
Restore previous functionality of the Uplay client.
New runtime option for old games that can't handle modern GL extension strings. Set PROTON_OLD_GL_STRING to limit the extension string length.
New runtime option to disable d3d10 support, PROTON_NO_D3D10.
Better support for games that use very old steamworks SDKs, including Lost Planet.
Fixed various problems with the build system, and added a new top-level Makefile to make simple builds much easier.
Dribbleondo Feb 16, 2019
Quoting: GuestEAC already has (optional) wine support in, and the devs of Paladin were asked by someone to activate it so that people could play it again. They obliged and now paladin (a game that was unplayable due to EAC last year) is now playable.

It was more likely a universal test of wine64 EAC of some kind, considering Apex Legends also worked until the day after it came out, where both Paladins and Apex stopped working, which is not a coincidence.


Last edited by Dribbleondo on 16 February 2019 at 10:04 am UTC
Termy Feb 16, 2019
Quoting: LinuxwarperI think Epic holding Valve back would be bad pr for them. They are already disliked for their anti consumer practices. If they work against Valve they will, hopefully, get much more backlash from PC community.
Valve could, and rightfully so, rub salt into wound that is Epic Store by pointing out how the company has ported Fortnite for so many platforms but neglected Linux, and now they are even stopping progress to make games available for the platform.
It would be disgusting if that actually happens.

it's not like EPIC cared to much about PR in the past weeks/months ;)
But let's hope their neglect of linux is just shortsighted and lazy instead of ill-minded
wvstolzing Feb 16, 2019
... so Proton 3-16.7 is supposed to "Restore previous functionality of the Uplay client."

I take it to mean that it still doesn't work. What else could that mean?
Purple Library Guy Feb 16, 2019
Quoting: MaathI wonder why Valve is putting so much effort into supporting Linux. My theory is that, currently, Valve and Microsoft are in direct competition, since Microsoft also develops games and I guess they even have a digital storefront. They could really use their ownership of the primary platform to make things difficult for Valve, and really other developers like Epic.

So, to have Linux support seems like having an alternative in your back pocket, preventing Microsoft from overreach.

Just a theory.
The bad news is, you're not the first to suggest this. The good news is, many people consider your theory pretty sound.
einherjar Feb 16, 2019
I can't imagine that Epic lets this happen.
They will not help Valve in any way. And if valve plans something like new Steammachines, it must work reliable.
If people buy a Valve product (game streaming or something like Steammachines) Epic can always kill it. They just need to let the multiplayer fail. Let people be kicked by Easy Anticheat - thats it!

So I don't think that will work reliable. Would be very nice, but I do not believe. May be with Battle Eye. But never with an Epic Company.
Dribbleondo Feb 17, 2019
Quoting: einherjarI can't imagine that Epic lets this happen.
They will not help Valve in any way. And if valve plans something like new Steammachines, it must work reliable.
If people buy a Valve product (game streaming or something like Steammachines) Epic can always kill it. They just need to let the multiplayer fail. Let people be kicked by Easy Anticheat - thats it!

So I don't think that will work reliable. Would be very nice, but I do not believe. May be with Battle Eye. But never with an Epic Company.

Problem with this mentality is that if EAC's parent company, Epic, is in direct competition with Valve, then why does EAC work on steam games on Windows and Mac, and Native Linux? The short answer is because the backlash that would cause would be so immense it'd discredit the entire company. Long-winded way of me saying; Be skeptical, just stop thinking that Epic's master plan is to kill steam (when that's clearly not the case).


Last edited by Dribbleondo on 17 February 2019 at 10:26 am UTC
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