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

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.

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.”

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.