Fortnite on Steam Deck: Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has confirmed the company will not support Fortnite on Valve's Steam Deck, citing major anti-cheat challenges. While Steam Deck hardware compatibility is feasible, the niche market for non-Steam-hosted titles limits viability, per industry analysts.
If Steam Deck adoption explodes, Epic may revisit this decision down the line. Recent updates solidify Epic's position against Fortnite on Steam Deck for these key reasons.
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The Steam Deck, Valve's innovative handheld PC built with AMD, packs a 45-watt power supply. It charges while you play and can power external devices up to 7.5 watts.
| Games Verified for Steam Deck (SteamOS) | Genre |
|---|---|
| Stardew Valley | Farming Sim, Life Sim, RPG (Pixel Graphics) |
| Valheim | Open World Survival, Online Co-Op |
| Terraria | Open World Survival, Sandbox, 2D |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | Adventure, Survival, Action, Massively Multiplayer |
Compared to mini PCs, the Steam Deck delivers superior GPU power and memory bandwidth, despite a marginally weaker CPU. Its RDNA 2 GPU features eight cores, reaching 1.0-1.6 GHz.
Sweeney called Linux support "terribly difficult" due to diverse configurations. On SteamOS compatibility: "Linux is already a small market; subdividing by kernel versions makes it smaller."
Securing anti-cheat for this initial small audience may not justify the investment. Sweeney noted, "Epic would be happy to put Fortnite on Steam. We wouldn't be happy to give Steam 20-30% of its revenue."
He lauded Steam Deck as Valve's "incredible move," an open platform letting users install any software, including Windows or rival stores.
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