“Programming Is Hard”: Epic Vibe-Codes New Launcher and Claims It Beats Steam by 46%
Epic Games has rolled out an ambitious overhaul of its desktop software. Now accessible in preview at launcher.epicgames.com, the new Epic Games Launcher has been rebuilt completely from scratch. What makes this refresh stand out is how openly Epic is handling its development. The company relied heavily on artificial intelligence to generate and review the code base, cheerfully labeling the experiment as vibe coding. To sum up this philosophy with unfiltered honesty, the development team delivered a blunt reality check: “programming is hard.”
Startup Times Cut in Half and 46% Faster Than Steam
Beyond the witty punchline, this technical rebuild tackles the software's longest-standing flaw: its sluggish performance and heavy resource usage. Martin Keely, head of the Epic Games Store, confirmed that the team scrapped the legacy technical stack in favor of a modern architecture powered by generative AI. The performance metrics are striking. Cold startup times have been cut in half (-50%). Even more impressive, independent benchmark audits show that launching the store cold is now 46% faster than performing a cold start on Steam, delivering an almost instantaneous shopping and browsing experience.
Compare PC Gaming Gift Cards Best Deals→
Official Linux Support and Unified Library
The update marks another critical milestone across desktop operating systems. For the first time, Epic is distributing an official Linux native client alongside Windows and macOS builds. This expansion aligns with an ongoing upgrade to Easy Anti-Cheat, paving the way for Fortnite and future competitive multiplayer titles to run smoothly on Linux distributions and Valve's Steam Deck. Furthermore, the redesigned interface features a unified library, letting players import direct shortcuts for games installed across Steam and third-party launchers into one clean hub.
Addressing the broader conversation around automated tooling, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney outlined the company strategy: “We are making a massive push to maximize AI acceleration. The goal is not doing the same thing with fewer people, but enabling everyone to build MORE and BETTER.” Just as AI tools are changing how players train, machine learning is now reshaping the fundamental software powering our gaming rigs.
My Take
For years, how slow and bloated the Epic Games launcher was had become a running joke among PC gamers. Seeing Epic openly embrace AI to rebuild it from scratch is amusing, but if the end result is a lightning-fast client that doesn't crawl and runs natively on Linux to challenge Steam, gamers aren't going to complain. Now, all they need is Steam's hundreds of millions of active users, and then they can truly claim they are better :D!
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
