Epic is rebuilding its Game Launcher to address performance issues

Epic is completely overhauling the Epic Games Launcher for a significant relaunch in mid-2026, aiming to significantly reduce load times, modernize the social layer, and incorporate long-requested features in an effort to compete with Steam.

The details:

• Back in February, Epic Games Store boss Steve Allison admitted that the current client “sucks,” noting its slow speed as it pings backend services every time you click around, which creates noticeable lag compared with rival platforms such as Valve’s Steam.
• According to Epic’s 2025–26 store roadmap shared by LuKa0nIndeed, the team began “rebuilding the underlying architecture” of the launcher in late 2025 and plans to ship the first wave of improvements this summer, with Allison saying players should feel the speedup around May–June 2026 as the changes are introduced.
• Epic claims that the refreshed launcher will load up to five times faster from a cold start and approximately 6.5 times faster when opened from the system tray, resulting in a more responsive and stable store overall.
• Beyond performance, the rebuild doubles as a social overhaul: Epic is adding player profiles, custom avatars, private messaging, cross‑platform text chat, voice chat, and game‑independent parties, along with community spaces and forum‑style tools intended to make the store feel more like an all-in-one gaming platform.
• The storefront itself is also being redesigned with clearer categories, stronger recommendations, in‑store patch notes, universal controller support, user reviews, and communities.