Will Valve’s Steam Deck be able to run games that use Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat?

Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat will be supported on the Steam Deck (Image via Sportskeeda)
Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat will be supported on the Steam Deck (Image via Sportskeeda)

Valve’s latest handheld gaming device, the Steam Deck, is set to have its official launch next month, February 2022 finally.

With its release date drawing closer, enthusiasts who have been waiting to get their hands on the device are pretty curious as to what the Deck can run and what it can’t.

While the device’s SteamOS will allow players to access every single title present in the Steam library, there have been specific reports by beta testers, which hint that not all games are perfectly compatible with the Deck just yet.

This has led many to wonder if the upcoming device can run titles that use Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat, and fortunately, it seems that it will.


Easy Anti-Cheat will be supported on the Steam Deck

Epic Games did announce back in September 2021 that they will be expanding the availability of Easy Anti-Cheat to Linux and macOS. They have also explicitly mentioned that they will be working on compatibility for the Steam Deck and its Proton technology which allows Windows games on Linux.

In a recent blog post, Valve has also confirmed that they are collaborating with Epic Games to make it significantly easier for developers who use Easy-Anti Cheat to release their games on the handheld gaming PC.

In the blog, Valve states,

“Our team has been working with Epic on Easy Anti-Cheat + Proton support over the last few months, and we're happy to announce that adding Steam Deck support to your existing EAC games is now a simple process, and doesn't require updating game binaries, SDK versions, or integration of EOS. Alongside our BattlEye updates from last year, this means that the two largest anti-cheat services are now easily supported on Proton and Steam Deck.”

Developers will have a much easier time porting their games to Valve's latest device, and as fans will be getting all of their games on one platform, many feel that this will be one of the most significant selling points for the Deck.

As the device is now compatible with both Easy Anti-Cheat and the BattlEye anti-cheat software, games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege will have a very smooth transition to the platform.