Here's a quick fix for Wuthering Waves not launching on Epic Games

Wuthering Waves - A female character readying to fight
(Image credit: Kuro Games)

So you're trying to load up the new Genshin-esque RPG, Wuthering Waves, on Epic Games but it's not launching for some reason—it wouldn't be the first time I've had trouble navigating the Epic app. First off, it's worth noting that you can simply download Wuthering Waves directly from Kuro Games by following the link there and clicking the Windows icon. 

This will let you access the launcher in a far simpler way so you can start preloading the game. However, if you'd prefer to install it through Epic for whatever reason, there is still a way you can launch the game while doing this. I'll outline the process below, plus the release times for the game a little lower down so you'll know when the servers go live.

How to launch Wuthering Waves with Epic Games

So, the problem: you've downloaded Wuthering Waves but when you try to launch the game on Epic nothing happens—it just says 'running' below the game card and that's it. Luckily there's a relatively simple solution to accessing the proper Wuthering Waves launcher. 

Here's what you need to do:

  • Download Wuthering Waves on Epic Games
  • Launch Wuthering Waves so it says 'running' just beneath it
  • Open Task Manager—easily accessible via the search bar
  • Scroll down through Background Processes until you find 'KRLauncherEpic' with the little Wuthering Waves character icon
  • Right-click on 'KRLauncherEpic' and select 'Open file location'
  • Find the 'launcher' application in that folder and double-click it—there's also a 'launcher_epic application' in there, but you don't want that one
  • This should open the proper Wuthering Waves launcher so you can start the game and preload

If you remember where you installed Wuthering Waves, you can also just select that drive, find the Wuthering Waves folder, and select the launcher from there instead. Obviously, doing this every single time will get annoying, and the Wuthering Waves desktop shortcut tries to launch it through Epic Games if that's where you installed it.

Instead, I'd suggest that you drag that launcher application to your toolbar at the bottom and pin it for easy access. Then you just need to launch it from there in future. Hopefully Epic will fix the issue before too long. Now all you need to do is make a Kuro Games account and then you'll be able to preload the game. 

Depending on where you are, Wuthering Waves releases on May 22 or 23 

  • West Coast North America: 7 pm PDT (May 22)
  • East Coast North America: 10 pm EDT (May 22)
  • United Kingdom: 3 am BST (May 23)
  • Europe: 4 am CEST (May 23)
  • Australia: 12 pm AEST (May 23)

Once the servers are live, you'll be able to drop into the game, though there is the possibility of server strain on launch so it might take a little while to get in.

Sean Martin
Senior Guides Writer

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.