Epic Games is rebuilding its launcher from the ground up to deliver cold starts five times faster on average. The overhaul, detailed at Unreal Fest, addresses longstanding performance complaints and forms the core of a 12-month roadmap for the Epic Games Store.
The company stated that every developer in the room and every player has experienced challenges with the current launcher.
In February he told Eurogamer the launcher sucks, describing it as slow and reliant on backend calls that cause delays depending on connection quality.
Tap a lens to see what this story means for you.
Liked this? The Brief brings you the whole day in tech, verified, every morning.
Two minutes, free forever. What's in The Brief →
See what’s happening right now
The Feed runs all day — short, verified briefs the moment they break.
Open the FeedFollow @thecircuitry_
Every story we publish, as it happens. No noise between.
Reader-supported
The Circuitry is a passion project I've always wanted to build, and I love the work behind it.
Running it costs real money. APIs, hosting, time. To keep improving the site and growing this into something useful for everyone, those costs have to be covered.
Any contribution is appreciated. If not, no pressure. Thanks for reading.
Epic has released a preview of its rebuilt Epic Games Launcher, according to the company's announcements. The new version boots in 5.47 seconds (46% faster than Steam) and loads its library 30 times faster than the prior launcher while adding Linux support.
Disney has stated it is not pursuing a full buyout of Epic Games. The company instead plans additional Fortnite collaborations over the next two years to showcase the value of its existing $1.5 billion stake.
Epic Games introduced the Unreal MCP plugin for Unreal Engine 5.8, letting large language models interface directly with the editor through text prompts to generate furniture, build cityscapes or implement player hazards. Michael Lentine stressed that developers stay in control while the tool reportedly reduces complex tasks from months of manual effort to just days, arriving amid persistent debate over generative AI adoption in game development.
Epic Games revealed Unreal Engine 6 at the Rocket League Paris Major, positioning an updated version of the vehicle sports game as the engine’s first title. The announcement arrives four years after UE5 while the existing Rocket League continues to run on two-decade-old UE3 technology.
Epic Games has announced the AI MegaJam, a November 12-15 event where creators will build games in four days using AI tools with Unreal Engine and UEFN. The jam offers cash prizes plus development continuation grants of up to $50,000 for standout projects.
