Epic Games released its new launcher preview on October 14, 2026, saying it is faster than Steam's launcher by a few seconds. It is the company's first major update to its launcher since launching its own Game Store nearly eight years ago.
Epic reported a cold start time of a few seconds faster than Steam, measured on a cold start without login or update issues. That compares with Steam's cold start time, which was not specified in the source.
The new launcher is built on a different tech stack and targets cross-platform support, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. Availability begins with a public preview, initially for all users.
"We vibe coded the Epic Games Launcher to be faster than the other guy," said Epic Games Store General Manager and VP Martin Keely. Keely added that using AI made the team more efficient and allowed a small team to rewrite the code base and launch it faster across platforms.
The announcement follows a Bloomberg report suggesting Epic is pivoting to an "AI first" development model for an upcoming Star Wars and Marvel-themed shooter. Epic said the new launcher is part of a broader shift toward AI acceleration in its development processes.
Epic did not say when full feature parity will be achieved, and the new launcher is currently light on features. The company said it is working toward feature parity between the new launcher and the old one.
Source: arstechnica
