Epic Games is reportedly delaying Star Wars and Marvel games as Fortnite developer embraces 'AI development'

Epic Games is reportedly turning to gen-AI to speed up development of its Star Wars and Marvel crossover shooter, which has been lagging internally. Read more

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Epic Games is reportedly turning to gen-AI to finish building the shooter that crosses over from Star Wars and Marvel, which has been delayed internally.

This was not announced, according to a Bloomberg report from journalist Jason Schreier, citing unnamed sources familiar with the game. Epic's ongoing development project - a collaboration with Disney - is said to have hit a high speed, with the Fortnite maker apparently telling its developers to use Gen-AI tools more for the rest of the game's production process.

The new shooter will reportedly feature characters from both the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, and the company expected it to launch in March 2027. Now that the crossover project has failed, Epic has told its staff to opt for an "AI-first" production pipeline and finish the game with technologies like Anthropic Cloud.

In an internal message seen by Bloomberg, one of the game's directors told developers that "there will be no more handwritten code" and that artwork should be "produced with a full AI workflow" — much to the surprise of many workers.

"We welcome the accelerated development of AI led by Epic's developers, who are visionaries and creative drivers for everything they do," Jake Jones, Epic's director of communications, said in a statement. Bloomberg

CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted: "We're making a big pivot at Epic that is driving developers towards new tools for maximum AI acceleration. "The goal is not to do the same things with fewer people, but to make everyone here able to make more and better things, bringing the benefits of using Unreal to all teams."

The Walt Disney Company acquired a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games a few years ago as the two entertainment giants agreed to somehow tie together Fortnite in a "gaming and entertainment universe." There were no concrete details about the partnership at the time, though the duo said players will be able to "create their own stories and experiences, express their passion in a uniquely Disney way, and share content with each other in the ways they love." Disney executives were recently reported to be interested in buying Epic Games outright.

Epic's attempt to infiltrate gene-AI into nearly all levels of game development comes less than a year after it laid off more than 1,000 humans. At the time, CEO Tim Sweeney told employees, "We're spending significantly more than we're making and we need to make major cuts to keep the company on budget."