TL;DR
Valve released a patch for the Steam client that neutralizes boot time claims made by Epic Games. The update lowers cold start times to 5.23 seconds.
Epic Games recently published tests from Keywords Studios showing its AI-assisted Epic Games Launcher V2 preview achieved a 5.47-second cold boot and a 0.36-second tray restore, outpacing the older 10.07-second Steam baseline. Valve responded in less than 24 hours with a routine client update.
Reports and social media tests show the patched Steam client now completes a cold boot in 5.23 seconds, slightly beating the Epic preview build. Steam trails in tray restoration at 0.42 seconds against the 0.36-second mark held by Epic V2. The update also prevents the client window from stealing focus during startup.
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