Epic's Fortnite and anti-cheat services are coming to Snapdragon Windows devices

Epic Games has partnered with Qualcomm to bring Epic's Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) program to Snapdragon Windows on ARM devices. EAC was originally designed for x64 architecture, which doesn't run on Snapdragon Windows devices due to the nature of how the anti-cheat program works. This will allow Fortnite and possibly other EAC-based multiplayer games to run on Snapdragon Windows devices.

In this article, we will analyze what this partnership means for the multiplayer gaming industry and what you can expect from it.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.

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Epic is partnering with Qualcomm to bring Easy Anti-Cheat and Fortnite to Windows on ARM devices

Snapdragon X Elite chip (Image via Qualcomm)

Windows on ARM is not a new concept and ARM-based Windows devices have existed for a while. However, the experience of using x86 apps on Windows ARM is quite jarring on these devices. That changed with the arrival of Snapdragon X Elite laptops, which were not only faster but also had better compatibility with x86 apps.

However, gaming was still a distant dream due to incompatibility with anti-cheat software. Most multiplayer games rely on anti-cheat software to protect gamers from cheaters and hackers. Most games with anti-cheat software didn't run on Snapdragon Windows devices as they were not designed to work on ARM chips.

Epic has partnered with Qualcomm to bring the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) program to Snapdragon and possibly other Windows ARM devices. This will make many popular multiplayer titles, like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and more, compatible with Snapdragon Windows devices, since they rely on the same EAC program.

This is a major step towards the future of Windows on ARM devices and may finally make mass adoption possible.

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Epic is also planning to release its Epic Online Services SDK for game developers

Epic also announced that it will be releasing Epic Online Services SDK for game developers to ensure they can work on ensuring that their multiplayer games are compatible with Snapdragon Windows devices. The only caveat is that multiplayer games that don't rely on Easy Anti-Cheat will become unplayable on Snapdragon Windows devices.

Titles like Valorant, COD, and more have their own anti-cheat programs, and those games will still refuse to run unless the game developers bring their anti-cheat solution to Windows on ARM devices. Nonetheless, this is still a great step forward for Snapdragon Windows devices.