Epic Games Launcher 2.0 Preview: Boots in Half the Time of Steam

Ever feel like you could make a sandwich while Steam boots up? Epic Games is trying to fix that—at least for its own launcher. On October 14, Epic dropped a preview of its completely rebuilt Epic Games Launcher, and the early numbers are pretty wild.

According to Epic's own testing, the new launcher cold starts in an average of just 5.47 seconds. Steam, by comparison, takes 10.07 seconds. That's about 1.8 times faster. In a tweet, Epic didn't hold back: "We vibe coded the Epic Games Launcher to be faster than the other guy. Don't believe us? Test it out for yourself in Preview." Yes, they actually said "vibe coded."

So what does "vibe coding" mean here? Epic says its team used AI to help develop the new version, resulting in a faster, more responsive launcher. Martin Keely, VP and GM of the Epic Games Store, told IGN that AI tools boosted development efficiency, allowing a smaller team to rewrite the entire codebase faster and bring the launcher to Windows, macOS, and Linux. But before you worry about AI-generated art: Keely stressed that AI was only used for code development, architecture, and feature implementation—not for visuals. The UI design was still handled by Epic's original design team.

Beyond raw speed, the preview packs a bunch of quality-of-life upgrades. There's a new integrated game info page that shows your play activity, game status, details, and launch options all in one place. The library is now customizable with grid and list views, plus you can create themed collections and tweak the top toolbar. Search and filtering have been improved to help you dig through a massive library. And download management is centralized: you can see download speed, disk read/write speeds, and all your active, queued, scheduled, or failed downloads on a single page.

Social features got some love too. The new launcher integrates party functionality and voice chat, so you can connect with friends in Fortnite and across the Epic ecosystem right from the launcher. It's not a full replacement for Discord just yet, but it's a step in that direction.

The preview is available now on Windows, macOS, and Linux. That last one is notable—it's the first time Epic has offered a native launcher on Linux. However, some existing social features and account management options aren't there yet. Epic says it'll use player feedback to fix, optimize, and add missing features. And don't worry: your Epic account, purchased and installed games, cloud saves, and game progress will all carry over.

If you want to give it a spin, you can download the preview from the official Epic Games Launcher website. Will you be trying out the new launcher, or are you sticking with what you've got? Let us know in the comments!