Epic's anti-cheat is coming to Linux, and Bazzite is ready for it

Published Nov 15, 2026, 9:00 AM EST Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Gaming on Linux is in this weird state where it's better than ever before, and companies are finally taking it seriously, but there's also quite a lot of hoops you need to jump through to get some games working. Proton can handle a good number of them, but some require a little extra work, and others still flat-out won't work because its anti-cheat detects you're using Linux. Well, as far as Epic Games' Easy Anti-Cheat system goes, the company is finally developing a way to allow Linux gamers to play online competitive titles like Fortnite again. The bad news is that it requires quite a lot of system requirements to work; the good news is that Bazzite is already leading the charge to make it as easy as possible to get your PC working with it. Easy Anti-Cheat has not been kind to Linux lately Developing a kernel-based anti-cheat isn't ideal for the system The story starts when Epic Games released Easy Anti-Cheat support for Linux-native games in 2014, moving to Wine- and Proton-based games in 2021. It worked, but there was a problem. The Windows implementation of Easy Anti-Cheat used a kernel-mode driver, a design that relies on kernel-level components on Windows. It's not so great for Linux, which has an open-source kernel that anyone with the right amount of knowledge can tinker with. While Easy Anti-Cheat could work with Linux, many developers felt it was too risky. During the update in 2021, Epic made Linux games opt-in, and some developers either didn't turn it on or disabled it later. Recently, we saw For Honor remove Linux users from the online player base after the release of a new ranked competitive mode. And Epic Games itself, despite being the brains behind EAC, couldn't achieve parity with Windows with the first version, meaning it also didn't enable support for Linux gamers to play titles like Fortnite. As you might imagine, this means anyone who wants to game on their Linux PC will have difficulty doing so if it's covered by EAC and hasn't enabled support for Linux users. However, it's worth remembering that the Steam Deck runs on SteamOS 3, which in turn is based on Arch, meaning that Valve's handheld console cannot play games if its developers didn't enable Linux support through EAC. This caused some player anger, especially after titles like For Honor had a 'Playable on Steam Deck' badge on their Steam store pages. EAC Linux v2 aims to fix those problems, at a hardware and software cost Part of the requirements includes TPM 2.0 Fortunately, Epic Games has been working on a way to bring Linux players on board. The solution is called EAC Linux v2, and Epic Games' solution to the original EAC problem is to move the anti-cheat away from the kernel and onto other built-in Linux systems. The good news is that this will allow Linux gamers to play EAC-protected games without issue, but the bad news is that you need to check each of these boxes for it to work: Signed Kernel & Kernel Modules present, TPM 2.0 present, Secure Boot enabled, Measured Boot enabled, IOMMU (Input-Output Memory Management Unit) enabled, Kernel Lockdown Integrity Mode enabled, Kexec disabled, and the Linux Security Module (LSM) BPF loaded and active. Yes, the people who migrated from Windows 10 to Linux to dodge the TPM 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 have encountered it once again. Still, it's not too outrageous to ask for a gaming PC to have a recent-enough CPU that supports TPM 2.0, so it doesn't feel too unfair to ask for it. Right now, Epic Games says that the Steam Deck isn't quite ready for the new EAC, but it is working on adding support. Bazzite is here to make the process as smooth as possible It took EAC Linux v2 and hit the ground running with it So, if you want to play EAC games on Linux, but you're not sure how to check each and every one of those requirements (or you're not sure how), what do you do? Well, Bazzite 45's recent release contained some very welcome changes that will make playing EAC-protected games a lot easier when v2 rolls out. First, Bazzite has managed to score Epic Games' blessings and got a signing key from them. This requirement is entirely out of the user's hands, as it requires Epic to specifically trust the distro the user is running. By getting the signature before EAC Linux v2 even releases, Bazzite is moving quickly to ensure gamers can get playing these EAC-protected games the moment v2 drops. Not only that, but it now comes with a built-in checker to see if your PC meets the mark. All you need to do is open the console and type "ujust check-anticheat," and Bazzite will take a look. If everything fits the requirements, it'll give you the go-ahead; if something is missing or not configured properly, it'll give you advice on how to proceed. It's very refreshing to see Bazzite take the initiative like this. A decade ago, gaming on Linux was pretty much a joke. Now, not only are big companies finding ways to get their titles working as they'd like on Linux, but the community itself is pulling out all the stops to ensure its distros will have full support from the word go. Bazzite has done an amazing job keeping up with Epic Games Between adding a console command that scans your PC and getting Epic's blessing for its distro, the Bazzite community has done an excellent job getting the distro ready for EAC Linux v2. Hopefully this is a sign that Linux's main issues with gaming aren't going to be around for too long.