EGS is getting a major 2026 update to rival Steam load times

Get ready for a new and improved Epic Games Store dropping soon

While the Epic Games Store (EGS) has plenty going for it — weekly free games, decent sales, Epic rewards, and Fortnite — it's far from perfect. It hogs resources, games can take forever to load, and downloads can be slow. Thankfully, Epic has fixes in store that will debut relatively soon, with a refreshed Epic Games Store launcher coming in May or June.

"We're ripping the guts out of the Epic Games launcher, entirely — well, mostly entirely — and replacing it," vice president and general manager of Epic Games Store Steve Allison told Polygon in an interview tied to the EGS 2025 year in review. "That work started in October. It's pretty far along now."

Since it launched in 2018, the Epic Games Store has become the second-largest online gaming storefront, behind Steam. While the platform continues to grow, the launcher's performance hasn't gotten much better — especially compared to the Steam store. I currently have both apps open on my PC, and EGS is using more than twice the RAM of Steam just running in the background.

"[The] launcher experience [...] might use a lot of system resources for some people. It may load on a delay that doesn't feel good, especially when you're a dual user that uses Steam or another store that you don't experience that on," he said, noting that 60% of EGS users are also Steam users. "We're well aware of it."

Performance issues aren't the only changes in the works for Epic Games Store, though. After introducing text chat across the Epic ecosystem at the beginning of 2026, Epic plans to expand what Allison called its "connected social experience." The team also plans to add voice chat in May or June, and it will be game independent, so you don't have to be actively playing together to connect with friends.

Avatars will be another element of the more social-forward Epic Games Store. Users will be able to craft their own virtual avatars that will be seen in the launcher. On the social menu, the first letter of your username will be swapped out with a picture of your avatar, which will be much more appealing to the eye.

And while the addition of avatars may not appeal to all users, there's a perk that Epic hopes will appeal to non-Fortnite players. If you buy a game that comes with a Fortnite pre-order bonus — and there will be lots of those this year — you'll be able to use those for your avatar. "If you are a player [on EGS] and you don't play Fortnite, but you do buy Resident Evil [Requiem] or whatever here, you'll be able to represent that IP [with the bonus Fortnite cosmetics on your avatar]," Allison explained.

In short, Epic is clearly aware of the problems many players have with EGS and — finally — plans to fix them. Hopefully, in May or June, we'll get a launcher that runs faster and makes getting into a game a much smoother experience. Secretly, though, we should all be the most interested in the avatars. Finally, my Fortnite skin of Will Smith from Bad Boys will have a forever home.