24 Hours After Epic's Vibe-Coded Client Bragged About Speed, Steam Launched A New Update To Beat It
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Yesterday, Epic Games announced and launched in preview its new vibe-coded launcher. The main marketing pitch was a jab at Steam’s slow loading speed compared to the new Epic launcher. Well, that didn’t last too long. Only 24 hours after Epic dropped its faster launcher, Steam pushed a small update to make its client faster than Epic.
Client VersionStartup Time (Cold Boot)Tray Restore SpeedArchitectureEpic Games Launcher V2 (Preview)~5.47 seconds~0.36 secondsAI-Assisted (“Vibe Coded”)Steam Client (Post-Patch)~5.23 seconds~0.42 secondsOptimized Modular CEF Image credit: u/rustenico On basic test systems, Valve’s client boot time dropped to 5.23 seconds, beating Epic’s new launcher and neutralizing its primary performance claim. While Epic Games Launcher V2 remains, a massive step forward compared to its notoriously sluggish legacy build, Valve demonstrated how quickly it can react to competitive benchmarks. Epic may have “vibe coded” a faster client, but Valve proved that targeted optimization on a decades-old ecosystem can still beat out AI speedruns.
But the issues with Epic’s client go far deeper than vibe coding. Years later, and now with a brand-new client even, Epic lacks basic features that should have been added a long time ago.
No Discussion forums and community hubs No User-written text reviews No Community-created guides and walkthroughs No Screenshot, clip, and artwork sharing No Community groups and curator recommendations No Profile customization (badges, showcases, backgrounds) No Community marketplace for in-game items No Direct player-to-player item trading No Digital trading cards, levelling, and points shop No Universal controller remapping and gamepad support No Big Picture mode for TVs and handheld PCs No Remote Play and Remote Play Together No Integrated game broadcasting and streaming tools No Family library sharing across accounts No Platform-wide mod hub (Steam Workshop equivalent) No Personalized discovery queues No Local network game file transfers No Game version rollback options La tienda de EPIC hecha completamente con inteligencia artificial parece ser un DESASTRE en cuanto a bugs… Quien lo dirIA 💀 pic.twitter.com/tZF244XZ49— eXtas1s 🎮 Noticias & Rumores (@eXtas1stv) October 14, 2026 Sikandar MahmoodI’m Sikandar Mahmood, a gaming journalist and content strategist with over a decade of experience covering video game news and crafting in-depth guides. I began my career at SegmentNext as a news reporter and editor from 2014 to 2019, before founding RespawnFirst in 2019. I currently serve as Head of Content Production on RF, where I manage writers, shape editorial direction, and focus on accurate, high-quality gaming news and guides.