Epic says its Launcher V2 is being built from scratch, promising big speed gains for cold starts and quicker returns from the system tray. Before any public release, the company plans a private beta, with additional storefront changes like in-store patch notes
The frustration has been simmering for a while, and Epic now has a new target: its own launcher.
During Unreal Fest. the company revealed it’s working on a “ground-up rebuild” of the Epic Games Store launcher. a version it calls Launcher V2. Epic presented performance goals that are meant to directly answer the complaints players have been making about speed and friction. Launcher V2 is described as being five times faster on an average cold start. and 6.5 times faster when restoring the app from the system tray.
Epic’s internal message was blunt in its own way: in its presentation. the company said “every developer in this room and every player we have has experienced challenges with the current launcher.” The reason that matters isn’t marketing. People have responded to the sluggishness by going out of their way to work around it. Some gamers have even accessed free games claimed on the Epic Games Store through Steam specifically to avoid what they see as a slow. clunky launcher experience.
The rebuild isn’t arriving all at once. Epic said Launcher V2 will go through a private beta before any public release. Exact dates weren’t provided during the Unreal Fest reveal. but the company previously pointed to a broader effort in a February press release. saying it was “in the process of rebuilding the underlying architecture of the Epic Games Store Launcher and plan to ship improvements this summer.”.
Speed is only part of what Epic plans to change. At Unreal Fest, the company also laid out several storefront tweaks. The slides shared during the event mentioned in-store patch notes, player reviews, quick-access categories, and a personalized home page.
Taken together, the message is clear: Epic isn’t just polishing a slow interface. It’s asking players to try again—this time with a launcher that starts faster. returns quicker. and comes with a storefront that aims to feel more useful between launches. The next step will be the private beta. since that’s where the company will learn whether the rebuild matches the promise before it opens the door to everyone.
Epic Games Store Epic launcher Launcher V2 Unreal Fest game launcher performance cold start system tray restore private beta storefront patch notes player reviews personalized home page
So like… they’re rebuilding the launcher because it’s slow? Finally. I swear it’s always stuck spinning.
“Five times faster” sounds good but I’ll believe it when I see it. Epic always says stuff is faster and then it’s still a pain to launch on my PC.
Wait if it restores from the system tray 6.5x faster does that mean it won’t ask me to sign in again every time? Because that’s the REAL problem, not the tray thing.
I don’t even use the Epic launcher half the time, I just grab the games wherever they’ll let me. If they’re rebuilding from scratch then maybe they’ll finally stop tracking my mouse movement or whatever lol. Private beta before release… so not soon. Love the patch notes idea tho, like we needed more tabs.