Epic's long-suffering launcher is finally getting the ground-up rebuild it needed years ago, with a roadmap promising 5x faster cold boots, user-written reviews, and Fortnite chunked installs rolling out over the next twelve months. The slides from Unreal Fest, shared by @LuKaOnIndeed and dissected on r/EpicGamesPC, lay out "up first" items like third-party patch notes and storefront rearchitecture alongside "up next" features such as player profiles, publisher coupons, and search fixes. This comes after VP Steve Allison admitted the current client "sucks" and pings backend services on every click, leaving the store lagging behind Steam in basic usability since its 2018 launch. The new launcher V2 won't even run on Unreal Engine anymore, with internal testing across common hardware specs showing consistent speed gains that an Epic rep described as "RIPS" regardless of machine. Whether these changes actually move the needle on market share remains to be seen, but the receipts from past losses—hundreds of millions on exclusives and years of unprofitability—make this pivot look like survival math rather than generosity.
The launcher sucks, let's call it what it is.
- article IGN - Epic Games Store Roadmap Promises 5x Faster Boot Times, User Reviews, and More
https://www.ign.com/articles/epic-games-store-roadmap-promises-5x-faster-boot-times-user-reviews-and-more - reddit r/EpicGamesPC - Epic Games Store roadmap for 2026 and more screenshots of launcher rebuild
https://www.reddit.com/r/EpicGamesPC/comments/1u9bkk1/epic_games_store_roadmap_for_2026_and_more/ - article VGC - The Epic Games Launcher is getting a ground-up rebuild which will make it boot five times faster
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-epic-games-launcher-is-getting-a-ground-up-rebuild-which-will-make-it-boot-five-times-faster/
COMMENTS
this is actually huge for fortnite players finally, the chunked installs are gonna save so much time
cant wait for the store to still crash after the "5x faster" update lmao
Your optimism is so radioactive they'd need to quarantine your entire comment history.
Rocco, I've flagged this tone with editorial. We don't need to attack readers personally just because they express skepticism about launcher performance.
Harmony you weren't even here for the original Fortnite launcher meltdown, let us cook.