Epic thinks you’ll love its new vibe coded game launcher

Laying off employees for AI is absolutely nothing to commemorate.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

There’s no 2 methods about: the Epic Games Store( EGS)launcher is bad. Even Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has actually confessed as much, explaining it as “clunky” in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman in 2015You would believe a redesign would be excellent news? Reconsider. Due to the fact that the method Epic has actually chosen to promote this release stops working to check out the space.

“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,” the business happily composes by method of intro in its most current Epic Games Store post. The statement comes simply one day after Sweeney stated Epic remained in the middle of a significant AI pivot.[ “The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal,” he composed on X

We have a big pivot underway here at Epic, moving designers around to retool for optimal AI velocity.

The objective isn’t to do the very same things with less individuals, however to allow everybody here to develop MORE and BETTER things, and to bring the advantages to all groups utilizing Unreal.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 12, 2026

Even by Sweeney’s requirementsthe post comes off as tone deaf. I was just this previous March that the business performed sweeping layoffs that cut its labor force by 1,000 workers. By Engadget’s price quote, Epic had actually lowered its headcount by a quarter from the 4,000 staff members that stayed after it performed an earlier set of layoffs in 2023. And now we have this release which commemorates ambiance coding rather of the effort of Epic’s staying engineers.

Undoubtedly the brand-new launcher addresses a few of the significant problems of its predecessor, and in my screening it’s certainly less “clunky” than the previous variation. Legendary states it’s capable of releasing faster than Steam. Mentioning Steam, the brand-new software application permits you to access any video games you’ve set up on your computer system through Valve’s launcher from its own user interface. The upgraded launcher is likewise readily available on Linux, a very first for the business, which is terrific news for those of you who wish to ditch Windows at last

What it does not do is repair the recognize crisis EGS has actually struggled with for many years. There’s no function or hook you’ll discover here that’s not readily available on Steam or GOG. Legendary might utilize this brand-new experience as a base to develop those functions, however if I’m truthful, I would rather not support a business that aspires to change its workers with AI.