Epic Games Launcher Rebuilt with AI: 'We Vibe Coded a New Epic Games Launcher'

Epic has unveiled a refreshed version of the Epic Games Launcher, its Steam-like platform that offers access to the Epic Games Store, game library, social features, and a developer hub. In line with the company's embrace of AI-assisted development, this new launcher was built using generative artificial intelligence.

"Programming is hard," Epic wrote in a blog post. "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 term "vibe coding" is often used jokingly to describe code written entirely through AI prompts rather than traditional coding skills. It's notable that Epic would use the term in an official announcement for its own product. But how exactly did the company approach building the new app?

In an interview with IGN, Martin Keely, vice president and general manager of the Epic Games Store, explained how the technology was used. "We have used AI as a tool as part of our development process," he said. "It's obviously an issue that's of high visibility at the moment across the industry, but for us, it made us more efficient and allowed a small team to rewrite the code base and be able to launch it faster across platforms, support Windows and Mac, and we're going to have a Linux version as well."

A recent Bloomberg report claims that Epic developers have been encouraged to use Anthropic's AI assistant, Claude, and that work on an upcoming Star Wars/Marvel crossover project should be done with "no more hand-written code." Meanwhile, Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said on X/Twitter that the company is "moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration."

When asked to clarify the extent of Epic's use of AI on the new launcher, Keely said that "it's been focused on code efficiency and the architecture, and allowing us to basically build features more quickly. It hasn't been about the artwork or the design style. There are some updates and changes, but that's been managed by our normal Epic Games design group."

It's interesting that this line has been drawn for the launcher, as Epic has been quite open about using generative AI to help create Fortnite skins. The studio's in-development Star Wars and Marvel crossover shooter is also reported to be using AI for its artistic assets, with Bloomberg's report noting that all art for the project would be "generated with full AI workflows."

We've known about Epic's plans for a new launcher for a while – we previously spoke to Keely's predecessor, Steve Allison, who said that the app "should feel fast and snappy and just be what you expect, frankly" in our extensive interview. Of course, Epic also faces a cultural battle, as most PC players have been embedded in Valve's Steam ecosystem for decades, with some convinced that the Epic Games Store will never be as good as Steam.