In a surprising announcement, the Epic Games Store is now equipped with a preloading feature that allows players to download games up to five days before their official launch.

“Preloading is now available for PC pre-purchase products on the Epic Games Store!” said developer Local Bald in a post. This implementation aims to facilitate smoother gameplay on launch day, particularly for titles with larger file sizes.

This feature, while practical, has been a long time coming as it has been standard on Steam for years. Even as Epic works to compete with Steam, such basic functionalities were missing until now.

Epic has gained significant traction through its free game giveaways but many are arguing that it’s essential now to invest in improving the overall user experience of the store.