Epic Games reportedly has AI write all the code for its Disney shooter
Bloomberg reports Epic is moving to an "AI first" approach on its Disney game. The Marvel and Star Wars shooter has also been delayed with no new date.
Bloomberg reports that Epic, the maker of Fortnite, is changing how it builds a shooter set in the Marvel and Star Wars worlds. Human developers will manage and guide work produced by AI models such as Anthropic's Claude, according to internal Epic messages Bloomberg saw. Those messages reportedly say "no more hand-written code."
The game is part of a $1.5 billion deal between Epic and Disney announced in early 2024. It was due in March 2027. Bloomberg says it is now delayed indefinitely, partly because the team was short-staffed and moving slower than expected.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed a "huge pivot" on social media. He wrote that the aim is not to do the same work with fewer people, but to build more and better things. In March, Epic cut more than 1,000 jobs and blamed fewer people playing Fortnite.
Epic has had AI trouble before. Last May, an AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite started repeating curse words until a fix was released.
To be honest, this matters less for what it says about the game than for who is doing it. A big studio with a Disney deal is betting that AI can do work people used to do by hand. Epic also makes the Unreal Engine, used by many other studios, so its choices may shape what they try next.
The facts
- Bloomberg reports Epic Games is moving to an "AI first" approach for its Disney collaboration, with AI models writing all the code and guiding all the art for an upcoming shooter.
- Internal Epic messages seen by Bloomberg say "no more hand-written code" and describe art made with "full AI workflows," using models such as Anthropic's Claude.
- The $1.5 billion Epic and Disney collaboration was announced in early 2024, and its Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter was slated for March 2027.
- Bloomberg reports the project is now delayed indefinitely amid the AI shakeup and slower-than-expected, understaffed development.
- Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote that the aim is not to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to let everyone build more and better stuff.
- In March, Epic cut more than 1,000 jobs, and gave lower Fortnite engagement as the main reason.
- A survey of over 2,300 game industry professionals found 36 percent used generative AI tools in their jobs, mostly for research and brainstorming (81 percent of AI users) rather than code help (47 percent).
Sources
- Ars Technica AI: Epic Games reportedly pivoting to "AI first" game development model