Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is off to a great start, but some players are unhappy with one particular point: the apply of Epic Online Services, which allows cross-play and friends list syncing between Epic and Steam. Publisher Space Marine 2 Focus Entertainment explained Last week, players were not required to link their accounts to play the game, but Epic recently announced Eurogamer that crossplay support Is requirement for all multiplayer games sold in the store.
“Cross-play across all PC stores is an Epic Games Store requirement for all multiplayer games, ensuring that players and friends can play together wherever they purchase their games,” an Epic representative said. “Developers are free to choose any solutions that meet this requirement, including Epic Online Services, which may require additional installation to enable Social Overlay (friends lists, cross-platform invites, etc.) on PC.”
In other words, you don’t necessarily need to apply Epic Online Services to play a multiplayer game, but you do need to complete the steps available within Epic Online Services to apply the Epic Store.
While game developers are free to develop their own solutions, many choose Epic because they don’t have to reinvent the wheel: EOS meets all the requirements out of the box, and it’s free to apply. SteamDB Database lists 944 games currently using the client, including Satisfactory, Palworld, Elden Ring, Disco Elysium, Football Manager 2021, Jusant, Armored Core 4, Hogwarts Legacy, and Payday 2.
Epic’s PC Store crossplay policy isn’t actually recent: it was established back in 2023 when it launched its self-publishing tools for the Epic Games Store. It’s also worth noting that Epic Online Services are completely different and separate from Epic’s decidedly mediocre launcher. (If you’re struggling with that, let me recommend Heroic, which is actually pretty good.)
In summary, if you really want to play Space Marine 2 without Epic Online Services, you can: Answering to one negative review on Steam, the creator of Space Marine 2 said that EOS is “not a mandatory install.” It can be uninstalled via the Add/Remove Software menu in Windows, but be aware that uninstalling it will prevent you from playing with non-Steam players and could potentially cause other unforeseen issues with other games.
