Epic Games has spent years trying to make the Epic Games Store a serious rival to Steam. It has given away free games, signed exclusivity deals, and kept major PC releases such as Borderlands 3, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria away from Valve’s storefront at launch. Those moves have helped Epic build an audience, but they have not been enough to seriously threaten Steam’s position as the default PC gaming platform.
One problem has been the launcher itself. Earlier this year, an Epic executive admitted to Eurogamer that the launcher “sucks,” and the company now appears to be working on a much bigger fix. According to slides from an Unreal Fest presentation shared by LuKaOnIndeed on X, Epic is developing Launcher V2, a ground-up rebuild of the Epic Games Store launcher that is supposed to be much faster and easier to use.
The company reportedly told developers that Launcher V2 will be five times faster during an average cold start and 6.5 times faster when restored from the system tray. That would be a major improvement for software that has long been criticized for feeling slow, clunky, and far behind Steam in everyday use.
BIG EPIC GAMES STORE UPDATE REVEALED
PLAYER PROFILES THAT SHOW:
• Banner, Level, Bio & Achievements
• Games, Fav Games & Top Played
• Playing now, Last played & MORE…
Thanks @LuKaOnIndeed for sending me this! pic.twitter.com/du6mEVxsCm
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) June 18, 2026
A faster launcher is the main fix
The Epic Games Store launcher has built a reputation for feeling slow, heavy, and awkward compared with Steam, so the promised performance jump goes directly at one of its most obvious weaknesses. LuKaOnIndeed also said in the X thread that Epic has confirmed faster game download speeds are coming in the future, which would address another common complaint from PC players.
There may also be a major technical change under the hood. LuKaOnIndeed said the new Epic Games Store “won’t be built on Unreal Engine anymore,” adding that Epic “realized how bad of an idea it was.” If accurate, that would help explain why Epic is describing this as a deeper rebuild rather than a simple visual refresh.
Digital Trends
Epic has not announced a public release date yet. The roadmap shown during the presentation points to a private beta first, followed by a wider release later.
The store is getting long-requested features
Epic is not only working on speed. The roadmap also mentions in-store patch notes, player reviews, quick-access categories, and a personalized home page. LuKaOnIndeed’s post also pointed to player profiles with banners, bios, achievements, favorite games, recently played games, and activity status.
Universal controller support also appears to be on the list, along with deeper ties to Fortnite. These additions may not close the gap with Steam overnight, but they could help the Epic Games Store feel more like a polished gaming hub instead of a basic storefront.
