Epic Games is moving its game development toward an AI-first model, with human developers shifted into roles managing and directing code and art assets produced by models such as Anthropic's Claude, according to internal employee messages viewed by Bloomberg. The reported approach would end hand-written code at the company and generate art assets through full AI workflows. The change affects Epic's own development staff and the teams using its Unreal engine.
The pivot has disrupted Epic's $1.5 billion collaboration with Disney, announced in early 2024, which had been set to release a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. That project is now delayed indefinitely, according to the report, which also cited understaffing and slower-than-expected development. An Epic spokesperson said the company is embracing AI-accelerated development led by Epic developers, who remain the creative drivers.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said in a social media post shortly after the Bloomberg story appeared that a large pivot is underway, with developers moving between teams to retool for maximum AI acceleration. He said the goal is not to produce the same work with fewer people but to let staff build more and better content and to extend the benefits to all teams using Unreal.
Sweeney and Epic have been vocal about AI's expected effect on game development. In a June interview with IGN, Sweeney said the technology could lead to games offering the possibility of infinite dialogue through a simple setup for creators, and that small teams would be able to build games with immense numbers of characters and large interactive worlds. Last November, he said AI usage disclosure tags like those required by Valve's Steam platform make no sense because AI tools will be involved in nearly all future production.
The pivot follows Epic's layoff of more than 1,000 employees in March, which the company attributed to a downturn in Fortnite engagement. Months later, Fortnite Senior External Development Manager Stephanie Arnette said the biggest fear is that AI will take jobs, but that this is not the goal and the aim is greater efficiency. Last May, Epic and Disney dealt with an embarrassment when an AI-voiced Darth Vader character added to Fortnite repeated curse words and made baffling comments before a hotfix.
The shift comes as game industry professionals report growing but uneven use of the technology. A survey of more than 2,300 such professionals ahead of this year's Game Developers Conference found that 36 percent used generative AI tools in their jobs, including 30 percent of those at game development studios. Those tools were used far more for research and brainstorming, by 81 percent of AI-using respondents, than for code assistance at 47 percent and prototyping at 35 percent.
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