Epic Games is currently undergoing a major upgrade to its PC platform Epic Games Store (EGS) with the goal of better competing with Steam. The upcoming Epic Games Launcher 2.0 will bring significant performance improvements to the desktop.
According to the latest exposed information, the overall running speed of EGS Launcher v2 is expected to be about 5 to 6.5 times faster than the current version. In actual experience, the opening speed of the new version during "cold start" will be increased by about 5 times, and the response time of restoring from the system tray to the game library interface is also expected to be accelerated by about 6.5 times on average. This is considered a significant improvement for players who have long endured stuck menus and slow page loading.
In addition to underlying performance optimizations, Epic is also taking this opportunity to reposition the platform role of the Epic Games Store, hoping to retain players by increasing platform stickiness. The new version of the store interface will be centered around a "personalized homepage", providing more intuitive quick access categories, and adding a large scrollable recommendation area to help players more quickly discover game content related to their preferences. The product details page will also expand from the past, which only displayed basic information such as title, price and rating, to a comprehensive information page that pays more attention to narrative elements, community activity and, where applicable, the player's personal progress. Epic hopes that through these adjustments, it will partly respond to criticisms made by former Epic employees - although EGS has a brief surge in active users during the "limited time free games" event, players often return to Steam after receiving free games.
From the overall market structure, if Epic wants to play a more important role in the field of PC game publishing platforms, it cannot avoid direct competition with Valve's Steam. According to Bloomberg, Epic Games Store’s PC monthly active users have reached a new high of 78 million, but this number usually only takes two to three days to reach on the Steam platform. This shows that there is still a huge gap between the two parties in terms of user scale and frequency of use. In this leaked internal roadmap, Epic has planned a long list of updates for the next 12 months, covering a series of changes from the underlying architecture to the social experience.
In terms of recent priorities, Epic will first promote the private beta of Launcher 2.0, restructure the store front-end architecture, and improve the game library management experience. The same period also includes the optimization of "blocked installation" for "Fortnite" to shorten the game download and update time, and the introduction of a native third-party game update description display function to make it easier for players to understand patch details. Since then, Epic plans to gradually launch a series of functions such as player profiles, avatar system, user evaluation and search experience optimization. At the commercial and social level, the roadmap also lists a coupon mechanism funded by the publisher, as well as social tools such as messaging, voice chat, and cross-game teaming, in an attempt to make up for the shortcomings of the current platform in community and interactive functions.
At present, it seems that Epic is trying to reverse the outside world's stereotype of the Epic Games Store as "only relying on free games to attract new users" through dual upgrades in performance and product experience, and find a new breakthrough in its long-term competition with Steam. This news about Launcher 2.0 performance and roadmap comes from screenshots of relevant information shared publicly by social platform X user @LukaOnIndeed.