Epic Says It "Vibe Coded" a New Games Launcher

Epic is putting out a publicly available preview build of a rewritten Epic Games Launcher, and its announcement makes a joke of the whole enterprise: programming is hard, so instead of doing that, the company says, it vibe coded a new launcher that is way faster and more responsive than the current one.

It's the kind of line that gets a laugh and covers a serious bet. The rebuild arrives nearly eight years after Epic took on Steam with its own game store and launcher, and the company is presenting vibe coding — its own phrase for the work — as the thing that gives it an edge over Valve.

The speed is the part to hold loosely. "Faster and more responsive" is Epic's account of its own rebuild, and responsiveness is exactly the kind of claim a vendor can assert and only users can confirm.