•Epic Games has delayed an unannounced game that would bring together Marvel and Star Wars characters in a shooter, according to Bloomberg. The maker of Fortnite and Unreal Engine is now reportedly pushing the game’s developers toward generative AI tools—including Anthropic’s Claude—to complete development. The crossover shooter was previously slated for March 2027 but no longer has a release date.
“No more hand-written code,” one director on the game told staff, according to Bloomberg. Developers are now pivoting toward an “AI-first” process that includes having all art for the game “generated with full AI workflows,” per the director’s message.
We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do.
Jake Jones, Epic Games communications director
Epic Games communications director Jake Jones told Bloomberg as much. Shortly before Bloomberg published its story, CEO Tim Sweeney said on X that the company has a “huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration.” He added that the aim is not to do the same work with fewer people but to enable staff to build “MORE and BETTER stuff” and bring those benefits to teams using Unreal.
Some Epic developers were reportedly shocked by the pivot. The company has not shied away from generative AI: Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games in 2024 and also agreed to a multi-game partnership. The two companies collaborated last year to bring an AI-voiced Darth Vader into Fortnite, though players quickly abused it. This summer, Epic announced it would be using AI to voice three dozen Fortnite skins, with voices trained on the performances of consenting actors—a situation not unlike last fall’s Arc Raiders AI voice controversy.
A user on X responded to Sweeney’s post by saying the CEO wasn’t reading the room well regarding how people view AI use in game development. “Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it’s not,” Sweeney responded. “Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be. Personally I’m optimisic [sic] about it and see it as empowering for creators.”
Epic’s championing of generative AI comes after the company laid off over 1,000 developers in March. Sweeney cited a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” beginning last year that led to Epic spending more than it was making.
Bloomberg noted that development on the Marvel and Star Wars game has been slower than expected, with the company underestimating how many developers and how much time the project would require. On X, Sweeney engaged with other users who asked questions about game development. One user wondered, “How does this line up with firing 1000 people though.” Sweeney did not respond to that question.
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