Home
Games
Games News
'No More Hand Written Code': Epic Games Reportedly Pivots to 'AI First' Development for Upcoming Disney Game

'No More Hand-Written Code': Epic Games Reportedly Pivots to 'AI First' Development for Upcoming Disney Game

Epic Games is reportedly delayed an upcoming shooter that features Marvel and Star Wars characters.

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 13 October 2026 12:38 IST

'No More Hand-Written Code': Epic Games Reportedly Pivots to 'AI First' Development for Upcoming Disney Game

Photo Credit: Epic Games/ Disney

Disney and Epic announced a partnership in 2024

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Epic is reportedly making a shooter with Marvel, Star Wars characters
The Disney project was planned for launch in March 2027
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the company was pivoting to AI development

Epic Games is reportedly pushing its employees to use more artificial intelligence tools to finish development on an upcoming title made in collaboration with Disney. The project, said to be a shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, has also been delayed from its planned March 2027 release window.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that development on the upcoming shooter, yet to be officially announced by Epic, was adopting an “AI first” production model, utilising popular generative AI tools like Anthropic's Claude.

As per the report, the game's director told staff: “No more hand-written code.” All art for the shooter would reportedly be “generated with full AI workflows.” Human developers would manage and guide the work created with AI tools.

Disney to Invest $1.5 Billion in Epic, Shared Universe with Fortnite Planned

Epic Pivots to AI Development

According to the report, the AI mandate was handed down to Epic developers in a video call last week, who were left stunned. Some workers reportedly said they hoped the company reversed its decision and predicted the AI first initiative would not be as successful as Epic hoped.

Following the publication of the report on Wednesday, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed that the company was pivoting to AI first development.

“We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Sweeney said on X. “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.”

Disney Reportedly Interested in Buying Fortnite Maker Epic Games

The report also claimed that development on the Disney-backed shooter had been slower than expected. The game has now been delayed from its planned March 2027 release window.

Epic and Disney have had a long-standing partnership, and several Disney properties have appeared in Fortnite, Epic's hit Battle Royale game. Disney had invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games in 2024, acquiring an equity stake in the company as part of a collaboration involving Disney properties like Star Wars, Marvel, and Avatar. The plan was to create a shared universe of Disney characters connected to Fortnite.

Earlier this year, a report claimed that Disney could acquire the Fortnite maker at some point, with some senior executives at the media and entertainment conglomerate said to be interested in the deal.

Fortnite

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Shooter

Platform Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, iOS, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

Series Fortnite

PEGI Rating 12+

More Epic Games Games

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Further reading: Epic Games, Disney, AI, Claude, Generative AI, Fortnite

Manas Mitul

Email Manas Mitul

In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More