Warhammer 40,000: Area Marine 2 is off to a roaring begin, however some gamers are sad about one explicit level: The sport’s use of Epic On-line Providers, which permits cross-play and mates checklist synchronization between Epic and Steam. Area Marine 2 writer Focus Leisure clarified final week that gamers do not need to hyperlink their accounts to play the sport, however extra not too long ago Epic informed Eurogamer that crossplay assist is a requirement for any multiplayer video games being offered on its retailer.
“Cross-play throughout all PC storefronts is a requirement of the Epic Video games Retailer for all multiplayer video games, guaranteeing that gamers and mates can play collectively wherever they buy their video games,” an Epic rep stated. “Builders are free to decide on any options that meet this requirement, together with Epic On-line Providers, which can require a secondary set up to allow the Social Overlay (mates lists, cross-platform invitations, and so on) on PC.”
In different phrases, you do not essentially have to make use of Epic On-line Providers on your multiplayer sport, however you do need to do what Epic On-line Providers does if you wish to be on Epic’s retailer.
So whereas builders are free to give you their very own options, an terrible lot of them go for Epic’s providers as a result of it permits them to keep away from reinventing the wheel: EOS meets all the necessities out of the field, and it is free to make use of. SteamDB lists 944 video games at present making use of the consumer, together with Passable, Palworld, Elden Ring, Disco Elysium, Soccer Supervisor 2021, Jusant, Armored Core 4, Hogwarts Legacy, and Payday 2.
Epic’s rule about PC storefront crossplay is not truly new: It established the coverage in 2023, when it launched self-publishing instruments for the Epic Video games Retailer. It additionally bears noting that Epic On-line Providers are fully completely different, and separate, from Epic’s decidedly not nice launcher. (If that is what you are having points with, enable me to advocate Heroic, which is admittedly fairly good.)
All that stated, should you actually need to play Area Marine 2 with out Epic On-line Providers, you possibly can: Responding to at least one adverse overview on Steam, a Area Marine 2 developer stated EOS “will not be a compulsory set up.” It may be uninstalled through the Home windows add/take away software program menu, though remember that ditching it would stop you from enjoying with individuals outdoors of Steam, and should probably trigger different unexpected complications in different video games.
