The notoriously slow Epic Games Launcher is finally getting the "ground-up rebuild" gamers have been begging for. Epic Games confirmed the new version, designed to be dramatically faster and more responsive, during a presentation at Unreal Fest. The reveal promises major performance fixes for the widely used but often-criticized platform.
The upcoming "Launcher V2" will be five times faster on an average cold start. It will also be an impressive 6.5 times faster when restoring from the system tray. The rebuild targets the launcher's most infamous flaw: its sluggish, clunky performance.
"The Launcher Sucks": Epic Finally Agrees
The move comes after an Epic Games executive bluntly admitted earlier this year, "the launcher sucks." At Unreal Fest, the company didn't shy away from the community's pain points, stating that "every developer in this room and every player we have has experienced challenges with the current launcher."
User frustration has been so high that some gamers developed complex workarounds to claim their free games through rival platform Steam, just to avoid the slow interface.
The Roadmap for Launcher V2
Epic has not yet given a specific release date, but it did outline a phased rollout. The roadmap shows Launcher V2 will first enter a private beta before a full public release. This follows a February press release where Epic mentioned it was "in the process of rebuilding the underlying architecture" and planned to "ship improvements this summer."
These features show Epic isn't just fixing a problem—it's building a platform to compete more seriously in the PC gaming market.