Epic Games is moving toward adopting an “AI-first” development model for its project with Walt Disney Company, with models generating code and directing the production of artistic assets for an anticipated shooter inspired by Marvel and Star Wars. According to a Bloomberg report cited by Ars Technica, which quoted people familiar with the project, human developers will increasingly be limited to managing and directing the outputs produced by the models.
Internal messages reviewed by Bloomberg indicate a move toward “not writing code manually” and using an entirely AI-based art workflow. The tools mentioned include Claude from Anthropic, while Epic said developers would remain the visionaries and creative force in the development process.
Project Delay and Team Redistribution
The collaboration between Epic and Disney, announced in early 2024 at a value of $1.5 billion, was targeting the launch of the shooter in March 2027. But the project has now been delayed indefinitely amid AI-related restructuring, staff shortages, and slower development than expected, according to the report.
An Epic spokesperson said the company was “embracing AI-augmented development” led by its developers. CEO Tim Sweeney wrote that the company was carrying out a major transformation that would redistribute developers to accelerate the use of AI, emphasizing that the goal was not to do the same work with fewer employees, but to enable teams to build “more and better” games and make these benefits available to Unreal users.
Why Does This Shift Matter?
The announcement represents a transition from using AI as an assistant for specific tasks to making it the presumed focus of the entire game-production cycle. Sweeney had previously discussed possibilities such as unlimited dialogue and interactive characters and worlds that small teams could produce. However, the available information does not yet prove that this model can maintain quality or accelerate a major project that is already behind schedule.
The move comes after Epic laid off more than 1,000 employees in March, after the company attributed the decision primarily to declining engagement with Fortnite. Epic and Disney had also previously faced an AI-related problem when Darth Vader’s voice added to Fortnite began repeating profanities and confusing opinions before a quick fix was released.
The Gap Between Current Use and Ambition
A survey of more than 2,300 game-industry professionals, conducted before this year’s Game Developers Conference, found that 36% of respondents use generative AI tools in their work, including 30% of those working at game-development studios. However, 81% of users focused on research and brainstorming, compared with 47% who used the tools to help write code and 35% for prototyping.
Therefore, the Epic and Disney project will serve as a practical test of moving AI from limited support tasks to producing code and art on the scale of a major commercial game. Questions about the new launch date, the ultimate extent of the human role, and mechanisms for controlling artistic and software outputs remain open according to the available information.