Epic Games Reportedly Shifts to 'First AI' Game Development Model

'No Handwritten Code Left' or Art Without AI for Delayed Marvel/Star Wars Shooter

"No more handwritten code" or AI-less art for the Marvel/Star Wars delayed shooter.

A view of the massive shared "universe" of Epic and Disney as it was introduced in 2024.

Epic Games is switching to an "AI-first" development strategy to work with The Walt Disney Company, letting AI models write all the code and drive all future shooter artwork. That's according to a Bloomberg report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the project as commenting on the important focus of in-house development at the Unreal Engine maker.

Human developers will be tasked with managing and directing code and art assets generated by models such as Anthropic's Claude, according to internal Epic staff messages seen by Bloomberg. According to the report, this means "no more handwritten code" and art assets are "created with full AI workflows."

The $1.5 billion partnership between Epic and Disney, announced in early 2024, was set to release a Marvel and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. The project is now delayed more slowly than expected amid AI-related changes and staff shortages.

"We welcome the accelerated development of AI led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers behind everything," an Epic spokesperson said in a statement.

"We've got a big pivot going on at Epic," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story broke.

Sweeney and Epic have long been optimistic about what they see as an impending revolution in game development fueled by artificial intelligence. In an interview with IGN in June, Sweeney observed that the technology would lead to games with "infinite dialog possibilities with a very simple setup for developers", leading to situations where "small teams will be able to create games with huge numbers of characters and massive, interactive worlds."

Sweeney said last November that AI disclosure labels like those required by Valve's Steam platform "do not make sense" because AI tools "will be involved in almost all future productions."

Epic laid off more than 1,000 employees in March, citing "reduced engagement with Fortnite" as the main reason for the move. Months later, Stephanie Arnett, Fortnite's senior director of external development, said: "I know everyone's biggest fear is, 'Oh my god, AI is going to take all our jobs.' This is not our goal. "The goal is to make us more efficient."

Last May, Epic and Disney faced embarrassment when an AI-voiced Darth Vader character added to Fortnite began repeating curse words and making confusing comments before being immediately fixed.Nord.

A survey of more than 2,300 game industry professionals ahead of this year's Game Developers Conference found that 36 percent use AI tools as part of their jobs, including 30 percent at game studios. But these AI tools were used far more often for tasks like research and brainstorming (81 percent of respondents who used AI) than for code assistance (47 percent) and prototyping (35 percent).

Kyle Orland has been the senior gaming editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, technology, and culture behind video games. He holds degrees in journalism and computer science from the University of Maryland. He once wrote an entire book about Minesweeper.