Epic Games says its new Linux launcher is meant to work on SteamOS, Valve's Linux-based operating system, though the software is still in preview.
In October, Epic said it was "investigating" making Fortnite compatible with SteamOS. The launcher was already in preview then, but SteamOS was not specifically listed as a supported distro (short for distribution, one of the many flavors of Linux). Communications Director Jake Jones has now confirmed SteamOS compatibility, along with a handful of other distros, in comments to a Linux gaming site.
The question put to Jones was about the launcher's AppImage, a single-file format that runs on many distros, being replaced by .deb downloads, the package format used by Debian and Ubuntu. Jones said, in part: "The new Epic Games Launcher is still in Preview and we plan to support as many Linux distributions as possible, including Fedora, SteamOS, Cachy, Omarchy, and more."
The wording is worth reading closely. "Plan to support" is a commitment to a goal, not a release date, and the product is still labeled a preview. Still, the list points the opposite way from what the .deb switch might suggest. Debian-style packaging alone would cover only one family of distros, while naming Fedora, which belongs to a different family, signals a wider target.
The launcher and Fortnite are also separate matters. The launcher is the client that handles Epic's store and library. Nothing in Jones's statement addresses whether Fortnite itself will run on SteamOS, and Epic's only public word on that remains the October claim that it was investigating. For SteamOS users, the launcher coming first would be a useful step, but it would not answer the question most of them are likely asking.