Yes, but no. This is the most precise response to an issue that is amongst the thousands of users trying to play Fortnite on Steam.
The fact for the moment is that the famous title of Epic Games is not available officially on Steam. The exceptional client of Valve has a titanic collection of games of all kinds to its credit and also hosts the archrival of Battle Royale games such as Realm Royale and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds.
There is no official reason why Fortnite is not on Steam but we do have a very clear idea that we will explain later on in this article.
Playing Fortnite on Steam – this is how it works
You are managing your game library on Steam and you want to play “Fortnite: Battle Royale”, but do not find it there? Well, you can still play the famous shooter on the platform. Just follow the instructions below.
For PC gamers, Valve’s platform Steam is a very convenient way to manage all the games at a glance. Most games, after the installation on the gaming platform, appear in the Steam game library. The games can be launched directly from there, and you can use useful features such as the Steam overlay, support for the Steam controller, and the streaming service Steam Link with which the picture can be streamed to the TV or smartphones.
Not all games are available on Steam – and “Fortnite” is one of them. That’s why there is no Steam version of “Fortnite: Battle Royale”
Valve providing the “Steam” Platform
On the PC, the game can only start the game with the Epic launcher from Epic Games, which is mandatory for you to install. In this way, the developers keep more control over their game and, above all, do not have to pay any fees to the Steam developer, Valve. 30% is the minimum percentage of profits that Valve pockets with each and every one of the purchases that take place under the protection of its virtual store. This includes any direct transaction with the products of the platform. From complete games to a cap or a tank top in titles like the PUBG itself, Valve takes a good amount of profit out of it.
As a reward? Free and unlimited distribution (since there is no need to make physical copies) and visibility.
Epic Games does not want to share
A compensatory measure that nevertheless falls short for colossal titles such as Blizzard. The makers of Diablo, Overwatch, and WoW decided to pull brand awareness to mount their own shed and thus take 100% of the profits. Therefore, this is the big reason why Epic games have not put Fortnite on Steam. The title makes millions from their in-game microtransactions every month and will surely hate to give 30% of their earnings to the service that also hosts PUBG. Epic Games games have also made the Android version of Fortnite available from their website and not from the Google Play Store. So it is clear that Epic wants every penny into its pocket. However, we have a technical solution for you.
With a few simple steps,
You can still start “Fortnite” from Steam
Step 1
First, install the Epic Launcher, but do not start it. Then open Steam and click on the “Add Game” button in the bottom left corner of the screen and on the menu that opens, click on “Add a non-Steam game” and then on “Browse”.
Step 2
Search for the file “FortniteLauncher.exe”. In usual case it is under “C: \ Program Files \ Epic Games \ Fortnite \ FortniteGame \ Binaries \ Win64”, but the drive letter or the path of the “Fortnite” folder might be different for you. If necessary, search for the file using the search function of your PC to know its location.
Step 3
If you found them, then click on “Add selected programs” to finish. Now the start file with its full name is in your Steam library. By right-clicking and selecting the item “Properties” in the displayed menu, you can then rename it to Fortnite if you want.
Step 4
By clicking on “Play” you start the game as usual from other Steam games. Then, however, the Epic Launcher always opens first. There, you have to log in again separately with your Epic Games access data. If there’s an update on the main client, wait for it to download and install. After that, your game will launch normally.
Steam Overlay can be used with “Fortnite” (Not working anymore)
If you start “Fortnite” with this method via Steam, you can use the Steam Overlay via the set key combination (default: Shift + TAB) from the game and, for example, make screenshots and videos using the keyboard shortcuts set in Steam. If you want to connect your Steam friends with the game, this might make it easier to start together in matches.
However, all of the above was too good to be true now. Somehow, Epic Games has ended the Steam Support services for their Battle Royale title. Now you can’t use the new Steam Overlay along with the game running. It is possible due to the fact that Epic Games wants to establish their own community.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is set in a colorful comic world and follows the so-called Battle Royale principle. 100 opponents jump off at the beginning with a paraglider over a large play area, in order to fight on the battlefield shortly thereafter. The last survivor wins.
Weapons, ammunition, and remedies are randomly distributed in the area and must be collected. It is important to keep an eye on a gathering storm, which gradually restricts the game area.
Does other non-steam games work?
The answer is yes. The answer is again “Yes, but no”. The main functionality that the users want to avail is the Steam Chat Overlay which unfortunately didn’t work in the case of Fortnite. However, I tested a couple of games by Electronic Arts and the Steam Chat Overlay was working fine and I was able to create group and call my friends while playing the game. It seems like only specific developers have designed their games in such a way that it won’t work on any other platform except for their own. As discussed earlier, even when you launch Fortnite through Steam, it will always launch the “Epic Games Launcher” first, which might be the reason why Steam Chat Overlay isn’t available on the game anymore.
Conclusion
Steam is a great platform for the gaming community. It connects gamers from all around the world as well as provides great functionality and customer support to them. Not only this, Steam allows you to add non-Steam games to the library through which you can let your friends know which game are you playing. So, If you are a Fortnite player, you can add the game on Steam without any problem. However, there is a downside of adding non-Steam games to the library; The Steam Chat Overlay functionality won’t be available for the non-Steam games while running.
Are you playing Fortnite on your phone? Then check out our article on the best controllers for playing Fortnite.
