IT Home October 15 news: Epic Games has launched a preview version of the new Epic Games Launcher, developed using AI "vibe coding."
According to an announcement on the official Epic Games Store website, since traditional programming methods were too difficult, the company decided to use AI to develop the new launcher. "Programming is too hard. So we just went ahead and vibe-coded a whole new Epic Games Launcher.It's not only much faster than the old version and more responsive,it also has a completely refreshed interface."
Epic also reminded users that the preview version's features are not yet rich: "Think of it as a speedboat, not a luxury yacht! Of course, it still has the cart, that advanced digital commerce technology."
Data released by Epic shows that the new store hasan average cold start of just 5.47 seconds,46% faster than Steam. Besides faster startup, the new launcher switches more smoothly between the game library and the store, uses fewer system resources when running in the background, and offers improved game library management and download experience.
According to IT Home, in June this year Epic announced plans to improve the game store and launcher at the Unreal Fest event. "Every developer here, as well as every one of our players, has encountered problems caused by the current launcher. It's time for a change."
At the time, Epic also claimed that the upcoming version 2.0 launcher would have an average cold start speed5 times that of the old version,but did not reveal that the new version would be developed with AI.
In February this year, then Epic Games Store Vice President and General Manager Steve Allison frankly said the launcher "sucks" and promised to improve the user experience, also without mentioning AI.
"Last year we shipped quite a few features, and this year may be the most productive year for tackling those big problems. The biggest one is that the launcher sucks—let's be blunt, it's really too slow!
Every time you switch pages, a request has to be sent to the backend server to reload content. Depending on network speed, users may have to wait several seconds. That experience is truly bad, especially when people compare it with other launchers that don't have these problems, or when they use both launchers.
Allison also revealed that Epic began overhauling the launcher at the end of last year, essentiallytearing out the internal architecture entirely and replacing it with a new one."From now on, the launcher should be smoother to use and faster. When players start saying 'Wow, this thing finally doesn't suck so much,' we'll consider it a success."
Related reading: