Social Overlay Overview

The Social Overlay is a panel that you can integrate with your game so that players can see their achievements, friends, and send/receive invitations from other players to join a game or add a friend. Players can also open the Social Overlay from the Epic Games Launcher.

Players can open the Social Overlay in your game if they press a shortcut:

• Windows PC (default): SHIFT+F3
• Nintendo Switch (recommended): Minus button
• PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (recommended): Touchpad
• Xbox One, Xbox Series (recommended): View button

Players can use the default Windows PC shortcut (SHIFT+F3) or you can change this shortcut to a different one. If you release your game on console, you must set up the shortcut. We recommend the shortcuts listed above.

For more information on how to define the shortcut for the Social Overlay, see How to Set the Shortcut.

A player can also open the Social Overlay from the Epic Games Launcher if they select the following icon:

Players see the Social Overlay as a layer on top of your game and when a player uses their controller on a console or a keyboard on Windows PC, their input applies to the Social Overlay (not your game).

On the Social Overlay, players can see four tabs: Friends, Add Friends Achievements, and Settings. These allow players to:

• Friends

  • See a list of their friends.

  • See a friend’s profile for details about them (for example, what game they are playing).

  • Send invitations to friends to join their game.

    For more information, see the following documentation:

    • Social Overlay Tabs: Friends
    • Social Overlay Tabs: Profile

• Add Friends

  • Send invitations to make new friends.

    For more information on the Add Friends tab, see the Social Overlay Tabs: Friends documentation.

• Achievements

  • See a list of achievements in your game and their progress to complete each one.

    Note: Players only see this tab if you enable either Epic Online Services achievements or Epic Games Store achievements in your game.

    For more information, see the following documentation:

    • Social Overlay Tabs: Achievements
    • Epic Online Services achievements
    • Epic Games Store achievements

• Settings

  • Choose if they receive notifications and friend requests.

    For more information on the Settings tab, see the Social Overlay Tabs: Settings documentation.

When you integrate the Social Overlay with your game, players also receive notification pop-ups when the Social Overlay is visible or hidden. These notifications let players know when they receive a game or friend invitation, and when they complete an achievement.

For more information, see the following documentation:

• Social Overlay Tabs: Friends
• Social Overlay Tabs: Achievements

If you want to integrate the Social Overlay with your game or allow players to use the Social Overlay from the Epic Games Launcher to join your game, then you need to use the EOS SDK. For further information on how to integrate the EOS SDK with your game, see SDK Integration.

When you integrate the EOS SDK with your game, you can use the following interfaces to interact with the Social Overlay:

• Custom Invites

  If you already have a system in your game for players to send and receive notifications to join your game, then you can use the Custom Invites Interface with the Social Overlay. This allows players to use the Social Overlay to send and receive notifications from your system.

  For more information on the Custom Invites Interface, see the Custom Invites documentation.

• UI Interface

  Use the UI Interface to display your own custom overlay panels.

  For more information on the UI Interface, see the UI Interface documentation.

• Lobbies Interface, Sessions Interface, and Crossplay

  Use the Lobbies Interface or Sessions Interface to set up a persistent connection between players and manage online games that integrate with the Social Overlay. If you also integrate crossplay with your game then players can send and receive invitations to join a lobby or a session across platforms if they have an Epic Account.

  For more information, see the following documentation:

  • Lobbies Interface
  • Sessions Interface
  • Crossplay Introduction

• Platform Interface

  Use the interface for each platform (mobile, console, and PC) to integrate them so that a player can send, receive, and view game invites using the notification system for that platform. This also allows you to use the user interface for that platform to show the notifications, and include friends from that platform on the Social Overlay if they have an Epic Account.

  For more information, see the following documentation:

  • Platform Implementation for EOS: for details on each platform interface.
  • Social Overlay Tabs: Friends: for more information on the Friends tab.
  • Social Overlay for Crossplay: for more information on how to use the Social Overlay across multiple platforms, with Epic Games accounts and native invites.

• Friends Interface

  Use the Friends Interface to allow players to use your game’s user interface when they interact with friends, for example, to send and receive invitations to add a player as a friend. When you change the details of a player’s friend with the Friends Interface, the player can see the same details on the Social Overlay.

  For more information, see the Friends Interface documentation.