Epic says its new vibe-coded Epic Games Launcher is faster than Steam
Epic says its new vibe-coded Epic Games Launcher is faster than Steam
Nearly eight years after Epic took on Steam with its own Game Store and launcher, the Fortnite maker is deploying a new tool to give it an edge over Valve: vibe coding. In announcing the new publicly available “Preview” build of its Epic Games Launcher, Epic writes that “programming is hard. 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.”
在 Epic 凭借其游戏商店和启动器挑战 Steam 近八年后，这家《堡垒之夜》的开发商正在部署一种新工具，以在与 Valve 的竞争中占据优势：即“氛围编程”（vibe coding）。在宣布其 Epic Games Launcher 新的公开“预览”版本时，Epic 写道：“编程很难。所以，我们没有那样做，而是通过‘氛围编程’开发了一个全新的 Epic Games Launcher，它比当前版本更快、响应更灵敏，并且拥有全新的外观。”
And while that might sound a little tongue-in-cheek, Epic Games Store General Manager and VP Martin Keely told PC Gamer that the team “started from scratch” and used AI as “a tool to write and review new features and new capabilities from the ground up in a different tech stack than what we had previously.” The goal, Keely said, was to “look at functionality that existed [in the current Epic Games Launcher] and [say] we want to replicate that, but not the code itself.”
虽然这听起来可能有点戏谑，但 Epic Games Store 总经理兼副总裁 Martin Keely 向 PC Gamer 表示，团队是“从零开始”的，并利用人工智能作为“一种工具，在与以往不同的技术栈中从头开始编写和审查新功能及新能力”。Keely 说，目标是“审视（当前 Epic Games Launcher 中）现有的功能，并表示我们想要复制这些功能，而不是复制其代码本身。”
Speaking to IGN, Keely clarified that using AI to code the new Launcher “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.”
在接受 IGN 采访时，Keely 澄清说，使用人工智能编写新启动器“提高了我们的效率，并使一个小团队能够重写代码库，从而能够更快地跨平台发布，支持 Windows 和 Mac，我们还将推出 Linux 版本。”
The focus on startup speed extends to Epic’s social media announcement, which once again stresses that “we vibe coded the Epic Games Launcher to be faster than the other guy.” Ars’s own testing confirms that the new Launcher goes from a cold start to the store page a few seconds faster than Steam (assuming no login or update issues get in the way). Epic also claims the new Launcher can restore from the system tray to the Library screen slightly faster than Steam, though the claimed difference of 0.06 seconds in this seems so small as to be unnoticeable (and was in our testing).
对启动速度的关注也延伸到了 Epic 的社交媒体公告中，该公告再次强调“我们通过‘氛围编程’让 Epic Games Launcher 比对手更快”。Ars 的测试证实，新启动器从冷启动到进入商店页面的速度确实比 Steam 快了几秒（假设没有登录或更新问题干扰）。Epic 还声称，新启动器从系统托盘恢复到库界面的速度比 Steam 稍快，尽管其声称的 0.06 秒差异微乎其微，几乎无法察觉（在我们的测试中确实如此）。
Epic announced a ground-up “storefront rearchitecture” and “Launcher V2 private Beta” in an Unreal Fest presentation in June. At the time, the company said the new Launcher would have “5x faster cold start” times and help solve challenges that “every developer in this room and every player” has experienced with the current Launcher.
Epic 在六月的 Unreal Fest 演讲中宣布了彻底的“店面重构”和“启动器 V2 私人测试版”。当时，该公司表示新启动器将拥有“快 5 倍的冷启动”时间，并有助于解决“在座的每一位开发者和每一位玩家”在使用当前启动器时所遇到的挑战。
The term “vibe coding” still carries heavy connotations of quickly thrown-together slop that could hide crucial errors beneath the surface. On social media, Epic warns that its Launcher Preview “will have some bugs” that early testers can help squash with a feedback form. The announcement post also warns that the vibe-coded Preview is currently “light on features”—an FAQ clarifies that “certain social features and account management options” haven’t made it over from the legacy version just yet.
“氛围编程”一词仍然带有浓厚的贬义，暗示着匆忙拼凑的劣质产品，可能在表面之下隐藏着关键错误。在社交媒体上，Epic 警告称其启动器预览版“会有一些漏洞”，早期测试人员可以通过反馈表帮助修复。公告还提醒，这个通过“氛围编程”开发的预览版目前“功能较少”——常见问题解答澄清说，“某些社交功能和账户管理选项”尚未从旧版本中迁移过来。
That said, the new Preview launcher adds some long-requested features like a Recent Games list and a centralized downloads hub for tracking network activity. And Epic writes that it is “working toward feature parity” between the new Launcher and the old one.
话虽如此，新的预览版启动器增加了一些长期以来备受期待的功能，例如“最近游戏”列表和用于跟踪网络活动的集中式下载中心。Epic 并表示，他们正在“努力实现”新旧启动器之间的“功能对等”。
Epic’s release of the new “vibe coded” Launcher preview comes just days after a Bloomberg report suggesting the company is pivoting to an “AI first” development model for an upcoming Star Wars and Marvel-themed shooter. “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media on Monday. “The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.”
Epic 发布新的“氛围编程”启动器预览版，距离彭博社的一篇报道仅过去几天，该报道称该公司正转向“人工智能优先”的开发模式，用于即将推出的一款星球大战和漫威主题射击游戏。Epic 首席执行官 Tim Sweeney 周一在社交媒体上写道：“我们在 Epic 正在进行巨大的转型，调动开发人员进行重组，以实现最大化的人工智能加速。目标不是用更少的人做同样的事情，而是让这里的每个人都能构建更多、更好的东西，并将这些益处带给所有使用虚幻引擎的团队。”