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Want to know how to Play Fortnite on Steam Deck? Well, here’s a guide to help you do just that, but it’s a little trickier than you might think. Everyone should thank the bus driver because it’s going to take a long time for Fortnite to work on the Steam Deck. Valve and Epic don’t work well together, and it goes without saying that you can’t play the game on SteamOS by itself.
Epic and Valve have a pretty low-key relationship. Both companies are huge when it comes to PC games, and Tim Sweeney’s company is always talking about how Valve has a monopoly on the market. Even though Sweeney has had problems with Windows in the past, Epic Games has not yet fully adopted Linux as a replacement.
But the Steam Deck is a big problem. This device is pretty open, and you can play games from different stores on it through Proton. On the other hand, getting a game like Fortnite to work on Proton should be easy. But because corporate policy is hard to understand, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a native version of Steam Deck anytime soon. Here are the steps how to Play Fortnite on Steam Deck.
What is Steam Deck?
SteamOS, Valve’s Linux-based operating system, is used by the Valve Steam Deck. It looks like a Nintendo Switch and was made with Steam gaming in mind. Players can connect it to a monitor or TV and pair controllers, mice, or keyboards with it. It can play games that were made for Windows, and like other portable gaming devices, it can pause and pick up games where it left off.
Feature | Description |
---|---|
Display | 7-inch, 1280×800 touchscreen IPS LCD |
Processor | AMD Zen 2 4-core/8-thread |
Graphics card | AMD RDNA 2 w/ 8x CUs, variable frequency @ 1.0 – 1.6 GHz (Up to 1.6 TFLOPS FP32) |
RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 |
Storage | 64GB eMMC, 256GB NVMe SSD, or 512GB NVMe SSD |
Expansion | microSD card slot |
At the moment, you can only get on the Steam Deck by making a reservation, and there is a long wait list. On February 25, 2022, the first hand-held Steam Deck devices came out. Since then, customers who paid $5 to reserve a unit have steadily been able to get one, but the wait list is still many months long. At the moment, you can only reserve it in the US, UK, Canada, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Valve says that soon, more places will be able to order it.
How to Play Fortnite on Steam Deck
It’s not as easy as it seems to play Fortnite on the Steam Deck with Xbox Cloud Gaming, but don’t worry. If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to start by making a Microsoft account. This is because the game can only be played through Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. But using Xbox Cloud Gaming to play Fortnite is free; you don’t even have to sign up.
Once that is done, you can move on to the next steps. This is a multi-step process that involves linking your Xbox and Epic Games accounts, installing the Edge browser, adding it as a non-Steam game, and then starting Fortnite through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Link your Xbox and Microsoft Account to Epic Games
You’ll need to link accounts to get started. Make sure you link your Microsoft Account, which you’ll use to sign in to Xbox Cloud Gaming, to the Epic Games account you want to use to play Fortnite.
- Sign in to your Epic Games account on Epicgames.com.
- Move your mouse pointer over your name and click on Account.
- Click Apps and Accounts and then click Accounts.
- Click the Connect button for the account you want to link to Epic Games, in this case Xbox.
- Sign in with your Microsoft Account and click Continue.
Install Microsoft Edge on your Steam Deck
- Press the power button on your Steam Deck to switch it to Desktop mode.
- Start the Discover Software Center.
- Go in the following direction: Web browsers are used to look at websites.
- Find Microsoft Edge and click the Install button.
- Close the Software Center once everything is set up.
- Click the button on your screen that says “Steam.”
- Open the application launcher, click on Internet, right-click on Microsoft Edge, and choose “Add to Steam.”
- Look for Microsoft Edge in the Add a Game window.
- Check the box next to it, and then click Add Selected Programs.
- Go back to your application launcher and choose Konsole.
- Type the following command: flatpak –user override –filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.microsoft.Edge.
- Press Enter.
Tweak Microsoft Edge for your Steam Deck
- Open Steam.
- Go to Microsoft Edge by clicking on the Library Tab.
- Choose “Properties.”
- Change the name to Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) where the icon is.
- Change the following text (after @@u @@) in Launch Options: –window-size=1024×640 –force-device-scale-factor=1.25 –device-scale-factor=1.25 –kiosk “https://www.xbox.com/play“
- Put the window shut.
- Go back to your library on Steam.
- Right-click on Microsoft Edge and then choose Manage and Controller layout.
- Choose Browse Configurations.
- Choose Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad from the list of Templates.
- Choose Apply Configuration, then click Done.
Why play Fortnite on Steam Deck?
- Portability: The Steam Deck is a portable handheld game system that lets you play Fortnite anywhere. You can play the battle royale mode of Fortnite without being tied to a computer or console.
- Controls that are easy to use: The Steam Deck has built-in controls like thumbsticks, buttons, and triggers that make playing Fortnite easy and familiar. You won’t have to worry about connecting controllers from outside or using touch controls.
- Powerful Hardware: The Steam Deck has powerful hardware, like a custom AMD APU, which makes it easy to play Fortnite and give it a good performance. The game has good graphics and a steady frame rate, so you can enjoy it.
- Integration with Steam: The Steam Deck is made to work well with your Steam library. Since Fortnite is on the Epic Games Store, you can add it to your Steam library as a non-Steam game and play it right from the Steam Deck. So, you can keep all of your games in one place and use Steam’s features, like game achievements and game overlays.
- Access to Other Games: The Steam Deck gives you access to a huge library of games on the Steam platform, in addition to Fortnite. On a single device, you can explore and play a wide range of games, including indie games, AAA games, and popular multiplayer games.
Questions and Answers
Since Epic Games hasn’t made a client for Linux yet, installing the official Epic Games client on your desktop won’t let you play games. Still, there is a way to get around this and play games like Fortnite from Epic Games on Linux. That’s how to use Heroic Games Launcher.
It’s a one-stop shop for PC games, and you can even add games you bought from other places. You can add games you bought from EA, the Epic Games Store, GOG, or itch.io to Steam as long as they are installed on your computer.
The Logitech G Cloud is a good alternative to the Steam Deck. It might not be as powerful and is mostly made for cloud gaming, but it’s powered by Android, so you can play games from the Google Play Store. You can also use the cloud to play your Steam games.
Before, only a few Android devices and browser games worked with the Chromebook, but that has changed a lot. GeForce-cloud, Nvidia’s gaming platform, makes it easy for us to play Fortnite on Chromebooks. We only need a fast internet connection for our Chromebook to run Fortnite.