Epic Games reportedly pivoting to "AI first" game development model
Epic Games is shifting its Disney collaboration to AI-first development, indefinitely delaying a planned shooter.
Bloomberg reports that Epic Games is adopting an AI-first approach for its collaboration with Disney, using models such as Anthropic’s Claude to generate code and artwork. Employees would guide those outputs rather than hand-write code or produce art through traditional workflows. The $1.5 billion partnership, announced in early 2024, was expected to deliver a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027, but the project is now delayed indefinitely. Epic said developers remain the creative leads, and CEO Tim Sweeney framed the shift as a way to build more for Unreal Engine teams.
- Epic will let models such as Claude write code and generate art.
- Human developers will manage and guide AI-produced code and assets.
- The $1.5 billion Disney shooter, due March 2027, is delayed indefinitely.
- Tim Sweeney said the pivot should help teams build more with Unreal.
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Epic Games is shifting to an “AI first” development strategy for its collaboration with the Walt Disney Company, letting AI models write all the code and guide all the artwork for an upcoming shooter. That’s according to a Bloomberg report, which cites unnamed people familiar with the project who commented on the significant pivot in internal development at the Unreal Engine maker.
Human developers will be tasked with managing and guiding code and art assets generated by models such as Anthropic’s Claude, according to internal Epic employee messages viewed by Bloomberg. That means “no more hand-written code” and art assets “generated with full AI workflows,” according to the report.
The $1.5 billion collaboration between Epic and Disney, announced in early 2024, was slated to release a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. That project has now been delayed indefinitely amid the AI-related shakeup and understaffed, slower-than-expected development thus far, according to the report.
“We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do,” an Epic spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story was posted. “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.”
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/report-epic-games-goes-all-in-on-ai-for-disney-collaboration/