Epic Games just rebuilt its game launcher, promoting the revamped app as being “vibe-coded” and “faster than the other guy.” Well, it didn’t last long — a day later, and Steam is back to being faster.
In a recent Steam update, Valve noted in the patch notes that it “improved Steam Client startup performance,” with user testing putting the new launch time at around 5.23 seconds. Meanwhile, Epic was just patting itself on the back for the 5.47-second launch time of its AI-built Epic Games Store (EGS) launcher.
When Epic debuted the new app, it made a big deal about the launch time, even going so far as to commission an independent third party called Keyword Studios to run tests. Keyword compared the Steam and EGS launch times in five tests across 13 machines, averaging the results while dropping the three lowest-end PCs tested. The results showed Epic’s new launcher starting in 5.47 seconds compared to Steam’s 10.07-second average.
this is such a good day to be a sweeney hater.. not even 24h later lmao https://t.co/XXLcIqYTT7
— dea (@girlglock_) October 15, 2026
Of course, we’re only going off limited tests here, and a variety of factors can influence start times. In a quick test I ran on my own machine, Steam launched in about 6.25 seconds. But a variety of things will impact start times, from your internet connection to your hard drive, to other hardware specs like CPU and RAM.
The thing is — and as many people were quick to point out — most people don’t care how fast EGS or Steam launches. People generally choose a store based on the games they have and the features on offer. I don’t think anyone is going to ditch their platform of choice over a few seconds’ difference in launch times.
The whole launch time thing is really silly, and Valve’s quick response to undermine Epic’s claims by improving Steam’s start time is honestly pretty funny.
@Wario64 Oh yeah Epic Games the reason we all use Steam is because of how fast it launched https://t.co/dcDgnhHXHl
— Phil Miyamoto (@PhilMiyamoto) October 14, 2026
Moreover, Epic can’t just “vibe code” EGS into popularity. There are tons of reasons people don’t like EGS, like frustrating exclusivity deals, lack of features, a general disdain for Epic’s dweeby CEO, Tim Sweeney, or the company’s obsession with AI. (Not that Valve and Steam are perfect, mind you, with Steam arguably being a monopoly in PC gaming.)
The point about AI is particularly salient, given Epic told developers to stop hand-writing code and to use AI to generate art — things that gamers have been particularly outspoken about. And Epic laid off 1,000 employees earlier this year, though Sweeney claimed AI wasn’t to blame.
It also doesn’t instill much confidence in Epic’s products when the company itself admitted that “programming is hard.” I mean, it took Epic years to finally add a shopping cart to its store, a standard feature of most online shopping platforms. At least Epic’s AI was able to keep that “advanced digital commerce technology” in the new app.
Source: @girlglock (Twitter) Via: Videocardz.com
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