Not a fan of epic and would never use their store. But if you are, you can try this
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The OP acknowledges the vibe coding, but the opening from Epic's announcement is worth quoting:
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.
It's like they're saying "Our launcher sucks and we couldn't fix it, so we used AI to make a new one". Other companies have been able to make good launchers without AI, but Epic just couldn't do it.
RPS's article has the most accurate title: "We vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher" because "programming is hard", announce company we're somehow supposed to see as a serious Steam competitor

Idk if epic is still doing that, but this image has been sitting on my phone for like 7 years
They swapped from one game you've probably heard of to two obscure indie games each week a while back, but yeah it's still going on. They're almost all forgettable outside of December, when they give out one game a day for the Advent calendar and a AAA game for Christmas.
They also have a rotation of three free developer assets every few weeks. Most of those are licensed for use in any engine, so it's a good resource for game developers to follow even if they don't use Unreal.
They still do it, but it's far less likely to be a game you've heard of and would have been willing to spend money on in the first place.
"if that's a line in the sand for you"
Given I'm hearing instances of vibe coded software completely deleting a drive as a way to efficiently uninstall it...it really should be a hard line in the sand for most people. If programming is so hard they can't do it, how can we reasonably trust that the software will be robust? Why would I want to trust it at all?
There are tens of thousands of instances of car crash deaths in the US every year, but it probably doesn't stop you from using cars as a mode of transit. My stance is that I won't use a shit program. AI makes it more likely that the program is going to be shit, but I've probably used something made with AI by now, including video games, that did its job and wasn't shit. The Epic store client was shit before it was vibe coded too, so I didn't use it. The biggest improvement here regardless of vibe coding is that Linux players will be officially supported customers, so if I buy a copy of Alan Wake II, I have some sort of assurance that I'll have recourse as a customer against an update that makes it inoperable to me.
Cars are just a tool, like AI, cars dont't make crashes, drivers do. Drivers are responsible for their driving, just as progrrammers are responsible for their coding. AI doesn't make more likely shitty programs, people make it more likely. Tools are just that, tools that do and make things, the people behind those tools are the responsible for how are used.
Vibe coding is just bad practice, like horribly wrong practice in 2026. I haven't read the TOS for the new client so I won't argue about the part about officially supported customers but I wouldn't be surprised if that weren't the case.
cars don’t make crashes, drivers do
Designing our infrastructure for cars first instead of people first encourages crashes to an extraordinary degree, but now we're getting a bit far from the metaphor.
I don't know what the TOS allows for, but it's Epic's actions regarding new Linux customers that I'd be more interested in. I'm not going to be the guinea pig with their Linux endeavors, but I'll wait to see what happens the first time a Linux customer runs into problems with a Windows game and its compatibility. At least Epic has an incentive to not be hostile toward those customers anymore.
Code is code is code. Human or ai made.
Any idiot can swing a hammer, it takes a professional to build a house.
Ai useage is the same way. Any idiot can vibe out some slop, but a professional can use it as a proper tool to do a job or help them do theirs.
The problem with AI isn't what it generates. It's the training, the water consumption, the copyright and legal issues, and economics.
Ai in and of it self as a tool is fine as a concept. Shitty programs have always and will always exist. Ai didn't change that in any way that really matters beyond there's just more of them.
After years and years of Tim Sweeney shitting on Linux, he actually came crawling back.
Too little too late though, you burned every bridge.
He's not just crawling back, he's actively trying to ruin Linux by introducing kernel-level spyware.
I'm definitely not an expert, but it looks like the only software that they're looking to implement above and beyond what comes with your distro is that systemd module, so I think that anti-cheat hook is what we'll have to look out for. It ought to be pretty obvious when it's about to happen, since I think that will be the only time you install a game from a game launcher and get prompted for an admin password for installation.
Requiring a signed kernel+modules plus TPM and Secure Boot attestation is another problem, especially if EAC limits you to approved signing keys since self-signed keys would still allow you to modify the system how you want.
TPM alone is a non-starter. Loads of people with old PCs moved to Linux in recent years due to Windows 11 requiring a TPM 2.0 chip, and now is hardly the best time to expect people to upgrade their hardware.
That and the risk of gaming distributions including Epic's crap by default like they do for Steam, though I doubt any distro worth its salt would do so.
TPM alone is a non-starter. Loads of people with old PCs moved to Linux in recent years due to Windows 11 requiring a TPM 2.0 chip, and now is hardly the best time to expect people to upgrade their hardware.
But then they're no worse off whether on Linux or not. I expect my next PC will have TPM2 enabled by default and will play nicely with everything I use, but I have no intention of using kernel level anti-cheat regardless. If you do want that, and there are people who do, then it's the same thing on Windows except you can use an OS that isn't utter garbage to daily drive.
That actually all looks pretty reasonable for what they're trying to do. There's very little novel there, they're mostly leveraging existing security features
I'm not sure about that. Mandating a locked-down system with signed modules will be a tough sell for the Linux crowd depending on how strict they make it. Removing the ability to customize your kernel and restricting what drivers and services you can run goes against the entire open-source ethos.
Yeah that sucks for sure. Unfortunately doing all that does solve some real problems outside of videogames
Those problems would be solved by server side anti cheat. There's no way to solve cheating with client side anti cheat. The only reason they do it is because it's cheaper and they can get your data. Using AC as an excuse to lock down or limit systems is similar to using kids as an excuse to ask for everyone's ID and ban VPNs.
Immutable distros are against the open-source ethos? That's definitely a take.
Even with an immutable distro you're able to obtain the source code and modify and recompile it to fit your needs. If EAC only accepts kernels signed by "trusted partners" that freedom goes away.
But you recompiling the kernel into whatever you need means it's no longer the same immutable distro, it's a fork of said distro. Whoever is actually using that immutable distro has their kernel restricted. You said restricting the kernel is not compatible with open source. If we talk about the average user an immutable distro means exactly that, it restricts the users access to the kernel. The average user doesn't know nor should know how to make their own custom kernel.
You're just fear mongering with what ifs. If you fart you may shit your pants. Does that mean you'd be afraid to fart for the rest of your life or would you think that's stupid and you're not going to worry about some baseless hypothetical? What would you tell the person who's telling you to be afraid of farts?
Native Linux support doesn't mean support for all distros. Wine is still your best bet.
requires coordination with distro maintainers
Which I really hope they just don't get. Fuck Epic and fuck Tim Sweeney.
Looks promising. Now if only they could bring Rocket League back to Linux natively.
I wonder if it can install/manage Unreal Engine yet. I don't see anything mentioning it specifically so I'd presume not.
Tried it and I’m surprised how much faster it is and how it now automatically shows all my Steam games. Still hoping Steam gets a redesign so the friends list isn’ta separate window
Maybe I'm being dumb, but why would I use this over Heroic? Is it meant to be a Heroic replacement or just the "official" client? Genuine question
It's the official client, but I also doubt Heroic will play as nicely with live service games like Fortnite. There's a decent chance that if you only play offline games, Heroic might remain better.
To all the people saying they hope this doesn't work out, do yah want more people on Linux or not? For some, Fortnite will be the killer game that they have to stay on Windows for.
This isn't how you do it. Compromising an OS with kernel level anti cheat isn't the compromise I'm willing to make just to get some gamers to switch off a terrible OS.
That's really fair. I forget that anticheats are kernel level I guess, as it makes no sense. Hopefully, as the other reply to my comment mentioned, it's not kernel level.
Compromising an OS with kernel level anti cheat
But they use Kernel integrated functionality from Linux. The difference to Windows Kernel Anticheat is, that they won't have root rights on the users system when playing the game (if I understand this correctly). This is actually how you do it right.
Kernel Level Anti Cheat does not work on Linux, they have to do it otherwise.
I'm not 100% read up on this but I'm cautiously optimistic that this doesn't seem all that bad. It's not kernel-level but appears good enough that it will have similar performance in detecting cheats.Also seems like it should be fairly widely compatible. The bazzite team have already said they believe they should be compliant or have a clear path to being compliant.
I don't want people that switch for this reason on Linux. Why do you think Windows sucks? Lowest. Common. Denominator.
Windows sucks because the company that makes it is betting you won't leave, and they keep stuffing it full of other revenue streams and ads for them even though the OS isn't even free. I'm no fan of kernel anti-cheat, but incompatibility with games that use it is a huge barrier for people switching that would otherwise choose to.
No need to gatekeep, you should want everyone to be lifted up and not just those you deem worthy
That switch for what reason? They can do what they want with their PC, like play a game? Being able to do what I want with my PC is the main reason I switched to Linux.
I don’t want people that switch for this reason on Linux.
What reasons do you allow people to switch to Linux? Would be good to have such list, because I can link to it and tell them they are not allowed for given reasons. Thank you in advance.
I'm sure I'll get shredded for this, but I don't understand what everyone is so mad about. This is a net good thing that will raise Linux awareness and adoption. You don't have to install the Epic Launcher or Fortnite and its anticheat if you don't want to. And if you're worried about the kernel level change - if that is what's required - then compile your kernel without it. Or don't load the module if that's how it's implemented. And "working with distributions" doesn't even make sense. The kernel is the kernel. I know there are variations, but that does not a distribution make. If you don't want the change, fork it and remove it. Or just use the fork where some one else did it for you. This is the whole point of Linux. It belongs to all of us and for each of us to the way we want.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
What Epic wants to do is make it so their game only runs if the kernel and its modules are all signed by an approved partner, hence the "working with distributions" bit. You wouldn't be able to run any game with EAC if you customized your system setup, which includes running third-party drivers for your GPU, sound, and/or network cards, something that's sometimes necessary on Linux due to poor manufacturer support.
Their "solution" to this is to suggest you make two boot entries - one for your actual system, and a second, locked-down one that passes attestation to play their games. That's a huge ask for a game whose playerbase is mainly children.
Holy shit! This is great news! My wife will be so excited!
Now if we could just get CoD.
2 weeks later: "Epic Games is filing for bankruptcy after blowing all its cash on vibe coding and a marketing campaign for its new launcher"
Lol they are going hard on social media comparing how they are faster than Steam, but the new launcher they are boasting about doesn't even have feature parity with their own old launcher never mind feature parity with Steam.
Way to bury the lede: it's "vibe coded". 🤢
With pretty much all software being written by LLMs that should be everybody's default assumption in 2026.
It's worth including if it's not vibbed, because that's the minority now.
TL;DR: they called it vibe coding not using AI as a tool, or AI assisted coding. It's a red flag to me and the app is probably crap.
It's one thing to use AI to code and completely another to "vibe code".
Vibe coding as a general thing, means giving the ai a task, having it do it with minimum intervention, and if it "looks" good, shipping it as is.
i.e. vibe coding is terrible. It produces dogshit.
Using AI to write some form using a CMS's API that you've done a thousand times and it's just a PITA to find how to define the fields, is fine, for example. But that isn't vibe coding per-se.
If they used AI as a tool they wouldn't call it vibe coding, but they probably used it as a mule that did everything and just carried them along, produced crap, after which they say LGTM and ship it to us posing as if they made something even remotely close to linux users' standards.
upgraded Easy Anti-Cheat
It's been expelled to the fires of Hell where it belongs?
Even though I don't use Epic Games/play games with anticheat, I'm pretty excited about this. If Fortnite finds success with an anticheat on Linux, there's a good chance that other major players will follow suit. The #1 reason to not switch to Linux I have seen from gamers is that they can't play multiplayer games that require anticheat, and a ton of them use Fortnite as an example.
Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher
Is it april fools day?
Apparently it's vibe coded. From their announcement:
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.
Imagine being a massive company and saying programming is hard.
Definitely the kind of statement that makes you want to give them your credit card info!
Imagine being the company that created one of the most used engines in gaming history, and being unable to create a launcher that worked on Linux, or even had like basic features that people expected.
It's okay, they probably fired some programmers and just blew through all their free AI credits. A bankruptcy announcement will probably be coming up within a year.
Imagine saying that you “hacked together in two weeks” (might’ve been a month, it’s been a while) the battle royale mode and made that free to play while you wait for the actual game to be completed.
It also runs like shit.
Fortnite is deteriorating so fast (code base crumbling, user base cheating more and more unhindered) they need to push the wreck into every household they can reach before everything combusts and crashes.
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