Epic Games reportedly orders staff to implement ‘AI-first’ development
Epic said to have ‘left staff stunned’ with order to create Disney title primarily with generative AI
Epic Games has reportedly instructed its developers to implement “AI-first” development and use “no more handwritten code” on an unannounced shooter.
That’s according to a report by Bloomberg, which claims that one of the unannounced game’s directors told staff in an internal message that all art for the title would now be “generated with full AI workflows.”
The game in question is a collaboration with Disney – which invested $1.5 billion in Epic in 2024 – that is said to feature characters from both Marvel and Star Wars. Progress on the title has allegedly been slower than expected, partly because Epic underestimated how many staff it would require.
According to Bloomberg, developers were then told last week that the game would implement an “AI-first” production model using tools such as Anthropic’s Claude. Humans will then manage and guide that work, it’s claimed.
“The announcement left some Epic developers stunned on a video call last week,” according to people who spoke to the publication. “Some made jokes about how they should handle errors produced by the AI-generated work, asking if they should ask Claude to fix its own mistakes.”
An Epic spokesperson said in a statement: “We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do.”
Adding further weight to the report, CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media on Monday: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.”
The Fortnite maker has previously endorsed generative AI
The use of generative AI in game development remains a contentious issue, particularly because of concerns about plagiarism and the perceived poor quality of its results. However, many developers are pushing ahead, in an attempt to lower costs and speed up development.
Epic is one of the first major video-game companies to confirm that it’s attempting to build a triple-A game primarily with AI, but it’s previously backed the technology.
CEO Tim Sweeney has publicly endorsed the use of AI multiple times, stating that he believes it is “really irresponsible” of Steam to make studios disclose AI use. In July, the executive implied that AI could “enable” games like Sony and Bungie’s sunsetted live service shooter Destiny “to thrive”.
In June 2026, it was announced that Epic’s Unreal Engine 6 will integrate AI tools to “greatly reduce the tedious work” in game development.
According to Epic, UE6 will introduce integrations with AI models such as Claude, Gemini, and others, which will act as “creativity and productivity multipliers,” enabling teams to “focus their efforts on the essential creative and technical tasks of development rather than time on time-consuming manual tasks”.
