Epic Games is shifting to an AI-first strategy for its Disney collaboration, with AI models writing code and guiding art for a shooter delayed to 2027.
The $1.5 billion partnership, announced in early 2024, was initially set to release a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. The project has now been delayed indefinitely due to AI-related challenges and understaffed development, according to a Bloomberg report.
Human developers will be tasked with managing and guiding code and art assets generated by models such as Anthropic’s Claude, according to internal Epic employee messages viewed by Bloomberg.
That means “no more hand-written code” and art assets “generated with full AI workflows,” the report states. The shift marks a significant pivot in internal development at the Unreal Engine maker, according to unnamed sources familiar with the project.
“We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do,” an Epic spokesperson said in a statement. “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story was posted.
Epic laid off over 1,000 employees in March, citing a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” as the main reason behind the move.
Months later, Fortnite Senior External Development Manager Stephanie Arnette said that “I know everyone’s biggest fear is, ‘Oh my god, AI is going to take all our jobs.’ That’s not our goal. The goal is to make us more efficient.”
Last May, Epic and Disney faced some embarrassment when an AI-voiced Darth Vader character added to Fortnite started repeating curse words and uttering some baffling opinions before a hotfix was rolled out.
A survey of over 2,300 game industry professionals ahead of this year’s Game Developers Conference found that 36 percent used generative AI tools as part of their jobs, including 30 percent of those at game development studios.
The announcement follows Epic’s long-standing bullish stance on AI’s potential to revolutionize game development. “The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal,” Sweeney said.
The company did not say how the AI-generated content will be reviewed for quality or accuracy, and the source raises questions about the reliability of the AI workflows in a high-stakes collaboration.
Source: arstechnica
