Epic Games Claims Its New ‘Vibe-Coded’ Store Launcher Is Faster Than Steam

Epic Games, the creative force behind Fortnite, is diving headfirst into generative artificial intelligence—and they are eager to broadcast it. In a recent publication on Wednesday, the Epic Games Store Team revealed that an early preview build of their revamped desktop launcher is now available for download. The announcement even asserts that the newly designed application outpaces Steam across multiple performance benchmarks. However, there is a substantial caveat: by Epic’s own explicit acknowledgment, the launcher was entirely “vibe coded.”

“Software development is notoriously challenging. Consequently, instead of traditional coding, we vibe coded a brand-new Epic Games Launcher that is significantly faster, considerably more responsive, and visually refreshed compared to its predecessor,” the opening statement of the announcement declares. For those unfamiliar with industry vernacular, “vibe coding” refers to the practice of leveraging artificial intelligence to autonomously generate codebases without necessarily comprehending the underlying mechanics of the resulting software. While traditional software engineers frequently criticize this methodology for producing maintainable technical debt—since building upon code you do not fully understand is notoriously difficult—and elevating security vulnerabilities, fervent AI advocates have enthusiastically adopted the approach.

Addressing how this iteration measures up against previous versions, Epic notes, “This inaugural launch remains relatively minimalist regarding features. Think of it more as a nimble speedboat rather than a fully furnished yacht—though it certainly retains essential digital commerce infrastructure like a shopping cart.” Considering the inherent security vulnerabilities associated with AI-generated software architectures, voluntarily entrusting such an application with sensitive credit card credentials feels remarkably unsettling.

Furthermore, Epic’s official overview contrasts the updated launcher directly against its primary rival, Steam. The company claims that the new Epic Games Store initiates in 5.47 seconds—representing a reported 46% speed improvement during a cold start compared to Valve’s platform. Additionally, Epic states that the software is 14% quicker when transitioning from the system tray back into the active user library.

The updated client promises smoother transitions between the store and library tabs, alongside reduced resource consumption while running quietly in the background. The preview build also incorporates integrated voice chat, enhanced metadata for titles within your library, customizable viewing layouts, accelerated filtering tools, and more granular metrics regarding active download speeds.

What is Epic’s stance on artificial intelligence?

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has left very little room for ambiguity regarding his enterprise’s long-term trajectory, characterizing the organizational shift as a journey toward “maximum AI acceleration.” In an X post shared on Monday, Sweeney elaborated:

We are currently executing a massive organizational pivot here at Epic, reallocating engineering talent to completely retool our workflows for maximum artificial intelligence acceleration.

Our ultimate objective is not merely accomplishing identical workloads with fewer personnel, but rather empowering every team member to conceptualize and construct far superior products, while extending these profound advantages to all developers utilizing the Unreal Engine ecosystem.

This is hardly the first instance of Sweeney voicing staunchly pro-AI sentiments. Following calls from U.S. senators urging Apple and Google to remove X from their respective app stores after the platform was inundated with explicit, AI-generated imagery depicting real individuals—including minors—Sweeney argued that penalizing the application and Grok served as a thinly veiled mechanism for politicians to “censor their political opposition.” Historically, Epic has also faced scrutiny for utilizing generative AI to design cosmetics for Fortnite, alongside deploying a contentious, AI-driven Darth Vader non-player character that users quickly manipulated into uttering offensive profanity.

Epic attempts to crack down on explicit language and slurs

Source: Polygon