Epic has revealed a newly refreshed version of the Epic Games Launcher, its Steam-like platform that provides access to the Epic Games Store, your games library, social features, and a developer’s hub. In-keeping with the company’s interest in and push for AI-assisted development, this new version of the launcher has been created using generative artificial intelligence.
“Programming is hard,” said Epic in a new blog post. “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 term “vibe coding” is often used in a joke context to describe code developed entirely through AI prompts, rather than actual coding expertise. It’s interesting, then, to see Epic use the term in an announcement for its own product. But just how has the company approached the build of its new app?
During an interview with IGN, vice president and general manager of Epic Games Store, Martin Keely, discussed how the technology has been used. “We have used AI as a tool as part of our development process,” he said. “It's obviously an issue that's of high visibility at the moment across the industry, but for us, it made us more efficient and allowed a small team to rewrite the code base and be able to launch it faster across platforms, support Windows and Mac, and we're going to have a Linux version as well.”
Bloomberg’s recent report claims that developers at Epic have been encouraged to use Anthropic’s AI assistant, Claude, and that work on an upcoming Star Wars/Marvel crossover project should be conducted with "no more hand-written code.” Meanwhile, Epic’s founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, said on X/Twitter that the company is "moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration."
When asked to clarify the extent of Epic’s use of artificial intelligence on the new launcher, Keely said that “it's been focused on code efficiency and the architecture, and allowing us to basically build features more quickly. It hasn't been about the artwork or the design style. There are some updates and changes, but that's been managed by our normal Epic Games design group.”
It’s interesting that this line has been drawn for the launcher, as Epic has been pretty open about how it’s used generative AI to help create Fortnite skins. The studio’s in-development Star Wars and Marvel crossover shooter is also reported to be using AI for its artistic assets, with Bloomberg’s report noting that all art for the project would be "generated with full AI workflows."
We’ve known about Epic’s plans for a new launcher for a while – we previously spoke to Keely’s predecessor, Steve Allison, who said that the app “should feel fast and snappy and just be what you expect, frankly” in our extensive interview. Of course, Epic also faces a cultural battle, as most PC players have been embedded in Valve’s Steam ecosystem for decades, with some convinced that the Epic Games Store will never be as good as Steam.