LogInThe new tools allow uniting friends in one place.
Epic Games released Epic Online Services SDK 1.15 for developers, bringing new crossplay features for PC. The new features were previously battle-tested at scale across Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, providing a series of plug-and-play services to connect games and communities across platforms and stores.
SDK 1.15 provides support for crossplay between Steam and Epic Games Store, meaning that Steam players can search from over half a billion friends, connect and play. Epic Online Services includes an overlay that merges Steam and Epic Games friends into a single list, as well as an interface to search for friends, send and receive friend requests, plus join multiplayer game sessions across stores. The team also noted that development to natively support more PC stores is underway, plus more.
"Crossplay gives all friends the opportunity to come together and create fond memories across interactive experiences. We are in the fortunate position to drive change in the industry with crossplay tools for all developers and we believe that connecting friends and communities will take the gaming industry to its next major growth spurt and its next billion players," said Simon Allaeys, Senior Director of Online Services at Epic Games.
Features:
- Steam and Epic Games Store friends merge into one overlay allowing players to see all friends in a single list.
- Integrated game invites. In-game, players can search and send invites to friends across Steam and the Epic Games Store, making connecting and playing together easy.
- Account linking. Onboarding without emails or password prompts. With just a few clicks, Steam players can jump into a game while an Epic Games account is created under the hood for their Steam account.
- Update-free improvements. When games are installed, the crossplay features are distributed via a self-updating in-game overlay. Players can enjoy new features and improvements without needing to update anything themselves.
- Plug-and-play SDK. Each Epic Online Services toolset is self-contained, so developers can mix and match the services they want to implement, incorporate the things they want, and leave the rest. Crossplay tools are no different.
You can learn more and get started here. Don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.