Epic Games is launching a large set of cross-platform game services throughout 2019 for other developers to use for free, it announced in a blog post on Wednesday.
It originally built the services for its popular battle royale title “Fortnite,” which has over 200 million players across seven platforms. They will be operated in a privacy-friendly, GDPR-compliant manner, Epic said. They will also be open to all game engines, all platforms, and all stores, leaving developers free to choose mix-and-match solutions from various sources.
The services will launch with a core set of features and expand over time. Those features include:
- Cross-platform login, friends, profiles, and other tools needed for recognizing players across multiple sessions and devices (coming Q2-Q3 2019 to PC, other platforms throughout 2019)
- A PC/Mac Overlay API (coming Q3 2019)
- A cross-platform voice communications service supporting all platforms, stores, and engines (coming Q3 2019 to all platforms)
- Cross-platform parties and matchmaking (coming Q3-4 2019 to all platforms)
- Cross-platform data storage and cloud saves (coming Q2 2019)
- Cross-platform achievements and trophies (coming Q3 2019)
“The services described above are just our first steps,” Epic said. “As you can see from our game and engine efforts, we’re also working on further support for user-generated content, enhanced social features, anti-cheat, and more.”
Epic said it will reveal more information on its new services over the next few months.
The company recently launched its own digital video game store, offering a small selection of curated PC and Mac games to gamers and an 88% cut of sales revenues to developers.
