Epic Games released a preview build of its redesigned Epic Games Launcher, featuring native Linux support and startup speeds that the company claims outpace Steam by 46 percent. The app was built using generative AI tools, with executives acknowledging that the development team relied on vibe coding to rewrite the core software.
Nearly eight years after entering the PC digital storefront race against Valve, Epic Games is leaning into generative artificial intelligence to overhaul its desktop software. The company announced the public preview of its brand-new Epic Games Launcher on October 14, 2026, accompanied by an unconventional admission about how the underlying code came together.
Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look.
Epic Games Store Team, via Epic Games blog
That tongue-in-cheek opening line arrived just days after Epic CEO Tim Sweeney announced a sweeping company pivot toward maximum AI acceleration, intended to retool developers for accelerated productivity. While software engineering veterans often criticize vibe coding for potential maintainability hurdles and security vulnerabilities, Epic leadership defended the workflow used to construct the storefront app from scratch.
Martin Keely Details the Rebuilt Tech Stack and AI Development Process
Martin Keely, Epic Games Store General Manager and VP, clarified in interviews that the team started on a completely new tech stack. Rather than patching the sluggish predecessor, developers used AI as a tool to write and review new features from the ground up.
Epic vibe codes a new Epic Games LauncherEpic Games released a public Preview build of a new Epic Games Launcher that the company says was vibe coded using AI. Epic stated that programming is hard so the team instead vibe coded a launcher that is faster and more responsive… pic.twitter.com/SCc17lG37D
Keely explained to IGN that using AI to code the new Launcher made the team more efficient and allowed a small team to rewrite the code base and launch it faster across platforms, supporting Windows and Mac, with a Linux version as well. According to Keely, AI served as a super helpful assistant for testing and replicating core functionality without carrying over the legacy code base.
While Bloomberg recently reported on an Epic director working on an unannounced title who told staffers there would be no more hand-written code,
Keely noted that the launcher team supervised the process closely. Agents wrote and reviewed the code, but human developers managed the migration throughout the project.
Keywords Studios Benchmarks Show Startup Speed Gains Over Steam
Speed is the primary focus of the initial preview phase. Epic commissioned independent testing from Keywords Studios in October 2026, averaging five runs across 13 machines while excluding the lowest-end hardware.
The benchmark results position the new Epic software directly against Valve’s dominant storefront. According to testing data highlighted by Wccftech, the cold start figures demonstrate a substantial performance margin.
| Metric | New Epic Launcher | Steam |
|---|---|---|
| Cold start time | 5.47 seconds | 10.07 seconds |
| System tray restore | 0.36 seconds | 0.42 seconds |
Epic also claims that its store pages open three times faster than Steam, and that the updated library loads thirty times faster than the previous application. Ars Technica testing confirmed that the app reaches the store page a few seconds faster from a cold start, though editors noted that a claimed 0.06-second improvement in system tray restoration is virtually unnoticeable in practice.
Linux Support Arrives Alongside Feature Tradeoffs
Beyond performance gains, the preview build introduces Linux support. This platform expansion sets the stage for Fortnite to arrive on Linux once Epic works with a critical mass of distro maintainers.
Despite these additions, the preview release remains light on features. Brian Sharon, senior communications manager for Epic Games, clarified in a statement to Tom’s Hardware that once you’re in a game you’re good to go, and the same goes for developer tools and non-gaming applications.