They say the code is new and the behavior is the old one
Ars Technica reported on October 14 that Epic published a public preview of the Epic Games Launcher. The story time is 5:15 p.m. US Eastern, 21:15 UTC, 05:15 in Beijing on October 15. Epic's line is that programming is hard, so they used AI to build a faster launcher with a new look.
Store general manager Martin Keely told PC Gamer the team started from scratch and used AI as a tool to write and review new features, on a different stack from the old launcher. The goal was to replicate functionality that already existed, not to carry the old code over. He told IGN this let a small team ship Windows and Mac together, with a Linux version planned. Linux is not in this preview.
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A few seconds is what Ars saw; 0.06 seconds is not
Ars's own cold start reached the store page a few seconds faster than Steam, assuming login or an update did not get in the way. They do not give the stopwatch gap.
Epic also says restoring from the system tray to the library is slightly faster than Steam, by 0.06 seconds. Ars calls that too small to notice, and says their own test agreed. The speed that holds in this piece is the impression of a few seconds on a cold start. The 0.06 seconds is Epic's figure, and the reporter did not treat it as an advantage a person can feel.
[1]The preview says it will have bugs
Epic's social posts warn that the preview will have bugs, and that early users can send notes through a feedback form. The announcement also says the preview is light on features. The FAQ says some social features and account-management options have not moved over from the old version.
What has been added is a recent-games list and a downloads hub for network activity. Epic says it is working toward feature parity with the old launcher. Parity is work in progress, not the state of this preview.
[1]Fivefold was a June sentence
At Unreal Fest in June, Epic said the new launcher would have a fivefold faster cold start, and mentioned a Launcher V2 that was then in private testing. That is an earlier claim. Ars did not stopwatch that fivefold figure this time, and this piece does not treat it as a result measured on the preview.
The preview can be downloaded now. It is not yet a replacement for the old launcher.
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