Epic throws shade at Steam, admits to vibe-coding the new Epic Games Launcher with AI "to be faster than the other guy"

Epic Games isn't lifting its foot off the gen-AI pedal. The company behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine has now vibe-coded a new Epic Games Launcher in an attempt to outrun Steam, by far the most popular digital games marketplace on PC.

The Epic Games Launcher is the platform that grants players access to the Epic Games Store, their game libraries and a host of social features - and the app's newest version was prompted into existence with the use of generative AI, according to the company.

"We vibe coded the Epic Games Launcher to be faster than the other guy," Epic tweeted alongside a graph (below) comparing how much faster the EGS Launcher is to boot than Steam. "Is this bad boy faster? Yes. Will it have some bugs? Yes. Do we want to hear about them? Hell yes. When you find something that’s off, hit the 'Send Feedback' button in the Launcher so we can tackle on the road to release."

We vibe coded the Epic Games Launcher to be faster than the other guy. Don't believe us? Test it out for yourself in Preview: https://t.co/pdtAeEIri4 https://t.co/aMxojUUVPV

— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) October 14, 2026

A follow-up blog post attempts to justify the gen-AI usage: "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 first release is light on features. Think of it as a speedboat and not a yacht!" (Is that more Valve shade I see?)

Vibe coding is a colloquial term often used to refer to code generated or prompted with gen-AI. Speaking to IGN, EGS' vice president and general manager Martin Keely acknowledged it's an "issue that's of high visibility" across the games industry at the moment - countless games have been recompiled and decompiled in recent weeks by vibe coders - but Keely reckons it's "made us more efficient and allowed a small team to rewrite the code base and be able to launch it faster across platforms."

This comes just a day after a Bloomberg report claimed Epic Games is fully embracing an "AI first" development pipeline, starting with a Marvel and Star Wars shooter that was internally delayed. Developers were allegedly told that "no more hand-written code" should be used while making the Disney crossover project from here on, and even art should be "generated with full AI workflows".

In an online post, CEO Tim Sweeney also suggested the gen-AI pivot could seep into Unreal Engine, the widely-used game development tool behind everything from Gears of War: E-Day to Final Fantasy 7 Revelation: "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."

The Epic Games Store has long struggled to pull the vast majority of PC players away from Valve's Steam platform. We'll see if a controversial AI spin can move the needle in any way.