Epic Games has moved its rebuilt Epic Games Store client into preview, and the headline feature is Linux support — a platform the storefront has ignored since it launched in December 2018.

The news, reported by Gamereactor UK, confirms that the store's long-teased overhaul is now far enough along for external testing. For developers and publishers, that changes the addressable audience question: a storefront that has been Windows-only (with a macOS client and a mobile push via the Epic v. Apple fallout) is now testing a third desktop platform.

What does this actually change for studios?

In the short term, not much shipping-wise. Preview means opt-in testing, rough edges, and no commitment on a stable-release date. But it signals Epic's willingness to broaden where its 12% revenue-share storefront runs — the cut it has used to position itself against Valve's 30% (reduced to 20% above $10 million in earnings) on Steam.

Linux is a small slice of the desktop gaming market. Valve's own Steam Hardware and Software Survey has historically put it in the low single digits, lifted in recent years by the Steam Deck, which runs SteamOS. Those figures are estimates drawn from Valve's opt-in survey, not sales data.

Even so, the Steam Deck effect matters here. A Linux-capable Epic Games Store client could, in principle, make the store viable on handhelds and Linux desktops running compatibility layers — territory where Proton (Valve's translation layer for running Windows games on Linux) has done most of the heavy lifting so far.

Why a rebuild?

Epic has been open about the original client's shortcomings. Complaints about performance, library handling and missing features have followed the store since launch. A ground-up rebuild, rather than incremental patches, is Epic's answer — and preview availability is the first public proof the project exists in shippable form.

For teams eyeing Epic's store as a distribution channel, the rebuild speaks to operational basics: a client that players will actually install and return to. Storefront discovery, self-service publishing tools and Epic's free-games program remain the main levers Epic has used to grow monthly active users.

The competitive read

Epic has spent years contesting platform fees — in court against Apple, in public against Steam's cut, and through exclusivity deals with publishers. Linux support fits that pattern loosely: it's an audience expansion play more than a fee play, but it removes one more practical reason for a developer to treat Steam as the only PC-wide option.

What's still unknown from the preview announcement is scope. Whether the Linux client covers the full purchase-and-play loop, whether it hooks into existing compatibility tooling, and whether Epic plans first-party support for Steam Deck-style devices — none of that is confirmed yet.

Worth watching: how quickly Epic moves the preview to a general release, and whether the rebuilt client ships alongside any change to the store's revenue-split pitch. A stable Linux client in 2025 would put the Epic Games Store on every major desktop platform for the first time.