Epic Games admits that its launcher “is slow” and promises major improvements this year

The company acknowledges the launcher's problems and is preparing a deep overhaul for summer.

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Epic Games Store has taken an unusual step in the industry: publicly acknowledging that their launcher is not up to par. In the midst of February 2026, one of the platform’s top executives has admitted without hesitation that the current experience is deficient, especially when compared to alternatives like Steam.

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The confirmation comes at a crucial time for Epic, which continues to strengthen its ecosystem with free weekly games, agreements with major publishers, and an increasingly larger presence on PC. However, the launcher’s performance had long been one of the most criticized aspects by users, something that the company now openly acknowledges.

Epic Games is preparing a complete overhaul of the launcher

Steven Allison, vice president and head of Epic Games Store, has recognized in an interview that the launcher is slow, clunky, and frustrating to use on a daily basis. According to him, the main problem lies in how the program constantly communicates with internal services every time the user navigates the store, causing unnecessary waits even with good connections.

Epic assures that work to solve these problems began in late 2025 and involves rebuilding the launcher’s internal architecture from scratch, replacing its current systems with more efficient ones. If everything goes as planned, the first visible improvements will arrive between May and June, with a much faster and more fluid experience.

Improving performance and much more

In addition to performance, Epic also wants to strengthen the social component of the launcher. The company has confirmed that it will add user profiles, avatars, private messaging, cross-platform text chat, and later, voice chat and game-independent groups. These features will not only be limited to the store but will also be integrated into Epic Online Services, allowing other developers to use them in their own titles throughout 2026.

Everything suggests that this year will be decisive for Epic Games Store. The company is aware of its current shortcomings and, for the first time, has put clear dates and objectives on the table to reach the level that many users have been demanding for a long time.