Epic Games released a preview of its rebuilt Epic Games Launcher on October 14, 2026, for Windows, macOS and, for the first time, Linux. Epic’s announcement on the Epic Games Store opens with an unusual admission: “Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look.”
The Details
The speed claims live on Epic’s launcher preview site:
- Startup: a 5.47-second cold start against 10.07 seconds for Steam, which Epic calls “1.8x faster startup than Steam.”
- Store: opens “3x faster than Steam.”
- Library: 0.36 seconds from the background to your library, against 0.42 for Steam, and a section headed “Library, 30x faster.”
Epic’s footnote says the Steam figures are an “average of 5 tests on each of 13 machines, excluding the 3 lowest-end machines tested,” run in October 2026 by Keywords Studios, “an independent third party commissioned by Epic.”
New features include a dedicated page for every game with its status, activity and play controls, collections, grid and list views, search as you type, and a downloads screen showing download, read and write speeds. Epic is upfront that it is unfinished: “This first release is light on features. Think of it as a speedboat and not a yacht!” Its FAQ adds that some legacy features, “including certain social features and account management options,” are not in yet.
What This Means for Players
Read this before you click download: Epic says “trying the new Epic Games Launcher will automatically uninstall the legacy version.” Your purchases, installed games, cloud saves and progress carry over, and Epic says switching back “shouldn’t affect your data.”
Fortnite players can test it safely, according to Epic: “once you’re in a game you’re good to go,” with nothing to stop casual or competitive play. The new look means the file-verify steps in our Fortnite FPS guide, written for the current launcher, may sit in different menus in the preview. Every other Fortnite guide is on our Fortnite hub.
Mac players need Apple Silicon: the preview does not support Intel Macs. On Linux, Epic officially supports Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Fedora 43 or newer and Debian 12 or newer, and says “many games are Windows-only builds and may need a compatibility layer.” SteamOS is not on that list, so Steam Deck and Steam Machine owners installing it from desktop mode fall under Epic’s “may work but aren’t officially tested or supported.”
Fortnite itself is not on Linux yet. Epic says it will arrive through the new launcher once a rebuilt Easy Anti-Cheat works with enough Linux distributions.
Source: Epic Games Store Team, “The new Epic Games Launcher is finally here in Preview”, October 14, 2026, and Epic’s launcher preview site.