For years, the fastest way to use the Epic Games Store was to avoid opening the Epic Games Launcher at all. Epic has clearly heard that, and its fix arrived today with an unusually candid confession attached.
The company’s announcement on the Epic Games Store blog opens with “Programming is hard.” It then explains that the team vibe coded a new launcher that it says is faster, more responsive, and better looking than the old one. The new launcher is available now in Preview for Windows, macOS, and, for the first time, Linux. Epic is upfront that this first build is light on features and calls it a speedboat rather than a yacht. It does at least have a shopping cart.
The speed claims live on the new launcher’s preview site:
- Cold start: 5.47 seconds, versus 10.07 seconds for Steam, which Epic bills as 1.8x faster.
- Opening the Store: 3x faster than Steam.
- Background to library: 0.36 seconds, versus Steam’s 0.42.
- Library loading: 30x faster than the old launcher.
The fine print says the figures are an average of five tests on each of 13 machines, excluding the three lowest-end machines tested. The testing was done in October 2026 by Keywords Studios, which Epic commissioned.
On Linux, the launcher FAQ lists official support for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or newer, Fedora 43 or newer, and Debian 12 or newer. Epic notes that the launcher itself runs natively, but many games are Windows-only builds that will still need a compatibility layer. Mac users need Apple Silicon, because Intel Macs aren’t supported (Ed: And will probably never be.).
Two gotchas before you click install:
- It replaces the old launcher. Per the preview site, installing the new launcher automatically uninstalls the legacy version.
- The competitive-play advice is mixed. The FAQ still recommends staying on the legacy launcher for Fortnite and Rocket League while Fortnite integration is finalized. Meanwhile, an updated note on the blog post says nothing would prevent casual or competitive play once you’re in a game.
This rebuild has been a long time coming. Back in June, leaked Unreal Fest slides promised a launcher that would open five times faster. That came just a couple of months before Epic pushed back on claims that people only show up for the free games.
The benchmark framing deserves a raised eyebrow. Leaving out the three slowest machines removes exactly the hardware where launcher bloat hurts most. And a 0.06-second lead restoring from the tray is not something anyone will feel. Valve also didn’t sit still: its October 13 Steam client update lists improved client startup performance, therefore this comparison was measured against a moving target.
The bigger story is the Linux build. A native client from the second-largest PC storefront removes one of the last reasons Linux players have to route Epic games through Heroic or Lutris. That makes it more meaningful than shaving a few seconds off a cold start.
As for leading with “vibe coded,” that is a bold way to introduce software that handles your payment details to a PC audience already skeptical of AI. (Ed: We’d have gone with “rewritten from scratch,” but nobody asked us.) It’s a preview, so try it on a machine you don’t mind troubleshooting, and let us know how it does in the forums.
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