Epic Games released a new Preview version of the Epic Games Launcher for Windows, macOS, and Linux built using generative AI, claiming faster startup speeds than Steam. Concurrently, Valve released an update for Steam on October 13, 2026, improving its own client startup performance.
- Epic Games announced its new launcher preview on October 14, 2026.
- Testing by Keywords Studios showed a 5.47-second startup compared to 10.07 seconds for Steam.
- Valve released a Steam client update on October 13, 2026, featuring startup performance measured at 5.23 seconds in user tests.
- Martin Keely serves as the Epic Games Store vice president and general manager.
Launcher Preview Features
Users can download and test the new Epic Games Launcher preview right now. The software features a lighter user interface, a unified personal computer library, and lower resource usage.
The preview software currently lacks full feature parity with the main production version. Meanwhile, Steam users benefit directly from improved startup speeds following the recent Valve software distribution.
According to Martin Keely, who holds the position of Epic Games Store vice president and general manager, this generative AI foundation allows the application to streamline operations significantly across Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms.
While the preview build offers substantial efficiency gains and reduced system resource consumption during day-to-day use, community members must note that it does not yet match the complete feature set found in the standard stable release.
