Epic Games has released a new preview build of its Epic Games Launcher, stating the tool is faster and more responsive than its predecessor. The company built the software using artificial intelligence, a process it described as vibe coding. This marks a significant shift for the Fortnite developer, which has competed with Valve's Steam platform for nearly eight years.
Martin Keely, general manager and vice president of the Epic Games Store, confirmed the team started the project from scratch. He told PC Gamer that AI served as a tool to write and review new features within a different technical stack. The objective was to replicate the functionality of the existing launcher without reusing its original code.
Keely explained to IGN that utilizing AI improved efficiency for a small team. This approach allowed them to rewrite the codebase and launch the product faster across multiple platforms. The new launcher currently supports Windows and Mac, with a Linux version planned for future release. Epic's announcement noted that programming is difficult, so the team opted for this new method to achieve a faster user experience.