Entertainment

Epic previews AI-built launcher, claims edge on Steam

Vince MaglayaPublished just now2 min readBased on 3 sources
Epic previews AI-built launcher, claims edge on Steam
Image by Setupx3D from Pixabay

Epic Games says it built its new PC launcher with artificial intelligence because "Programming is hard".

The company has released a preview version of the new Epic Games Launcher, the app players use to buy, download and start games on PC. Epic says the rebuild is faster and more responsive than the current launcher and has a new look, as reported by Video Games Chronicle.

Epic calls the method "vibe coding". It is shorthand for describing what you want in prompts and letting AI tools write the code, rather than writing it by hand. The approach fits a wider AI push at the company, which has told developers to end hand-written code, according to HotHardware.

Speed is the pitch. Epic claims the new store loads in an average of 5.47 seconds from a cold start, meaning opening from fully closed. That, it claims, is 46% faster than Steam. The company also says moving between the shop and the games library feels snappier, and the app puts less load on the system while running in the background.

The first preview is deliberately thin. Epic says it "is light on features" and describes it as "a speedboat and not a yacht". It does include a shopping cart, so buyers can group several games into one checkout, alongside an improved library and download experience.

This rebuild has been trailed for months. In February, Epic Games Store vice president and general manager Steven Allison said the existing launcher "sucks" and promised improvements were coming. In June, the company detailed planned store and launcher changes during Unreal Fest, its developer event, where it claimed the upcoming version 2 would have a cold start five times faster on average.

Separately, Epic is investigating making Fortnite compatible with SteamOS, the Linux-based system that powers Valve's Steam Deck handheld, according to The Verge.

What makes this stand out is the bluntness. Few publishers describe their own software in those terms. For players, this means a quicker shop now, with the missing extras to follow later.

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