Epic Games is shifting to an “AI-first” development strategy for its collaboration with the Walt Disney Company, allowing AI models to write all the code and guide all the art of an upcoming shooter. This is according to a report from Bloomberg, which cites anonymous people familiar with the project who commented on the major shift in the Unreal Engine maker’s internal development.
Human developers will be tasked with managing and guiding the code and art assets generated by models like Anthropic’s Claude, according to internal messages from Epic employees seen by Bloomberg. That means “no more handwritten code” and art assets “generated with full AI workflows,” according to the report.
The $1.5 billion collaboration between Epic and Disney, announced in early 2024, was scheduled to release a Marvel and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. That project has now been delayed indefinitely amid AI-related restructuring and staff shortages and slower-than-expected development so far, according to the report.
“We are embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers of everything we do,” an Epic spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have a big shift underway here at Epic, moving developers to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story was published. “The goal is not to do the same thing with fewer people, but to allow everyone here to create MORE and BETTER things, and bring the benefits to all the teams that use Unreal.”
