Epic Games Store roadmap promises 5x faster launcher, user reviews, and a ground-up redesign

Epic laid out a sweeping 12-month roadmap for the Epic Games Store at Unreal Fest in Chicago on June 18, promising a ground-up launcher rebuild, long-missing features, and a full storefront redesign. Slides from the event, shared on Reddit and X, show Epic is finally serious about closing the gap with Steam — though the list of "coming soon" features will raise eyebrows for how basic most of them are.

The headline technical claim is a 5x faster cold start and 6.5x faster system-tray restore to library, both listed as averages from the rebuild. On the feature side, the "up first" tier includes third-party patch notes, Fortnite chunked installation, cross-region gifting, pre-registration for free-to-play games, library management improvements, and a private beta for the redesigned launcher. Further out, Epic is promising written user reviews, player profiles with avatars, publisher-funded coupons, universal Xbox and PlayStation controller support, discovery improvements, and a public launch of what it's calling Version 2 of the store. Personalized home pages and game detail pages tailored to each user's playstyle and progression are also part of the redesign.

Epic Games Store launched in 2018 and has spent most of its existence playing catch-up. CEO Tim Sweeney admitted in 2021 the store had lost over $300 million, framing it as part of a long-term growth plan. Court documents from 2023 confirmed the store still wasn't profitable five years in. The company also laid off over 1,000 employees in a prior round of cuts, which makes the scale of this roadmap either ambitious or optimistic depending on your read. One slide from the Unreal Fest talk put it plainly: "Every developer in this room and every player we have has experienced challenges with the current launcher. It's time for a change."

The community reaction is a mix of cautious optimism and exasperation — most of these features, from user reviews to player profiles to patch notes, have been standard on Steam for years. No specific release dates were given for any individual update or the full Version 2 launch, so how quickly Epic actually ships this roadmap remains the real question.