•Epic Hry has reportedly delayed its unannounced Star Wars and Marvel crossover shooter while shifting developers toward an “AI first” production model, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The outlet detailed the yet-to-be-announced Disney video game, stating that the untitled crossover experience was originally slated for release in March but has since been pushed back. The delay accommodates a new internal release plan that Epic has not publicly shared, and no launch date or location is currently known.
Epic developers attached to the project have reportedly been encouraged to use tools such as Anthropic’s AI assistant, Claude, with humans expected to oversee the work. Bloomberg also obtained an internal message from one of the game’s directors, which included the excerpt: “No more hand-written code.” The same message reportedly added that all art for the project was to be “generated with full AI workflows.”
The report continued by stating that Epic underestimated the time and resources required to develop the shooter, with progress slower than expected. When and where it will launch remains unclear.
“We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do.”
Jake Jones, Epic communications director
Bloomberg added that Epic’s push toward what appears to be a project leaning heavily on AI left many of its developers “stunned.” Zprávy of the shooter’s schedule change follows another Bloomberg report from earlier this year stating that Epic was working on an extraction shooter featuring Disney characters, which was then described as similar to Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders.
Just moments before news of Epic’s AI push broke, studio founder and CEO Tim Sweeney published a post on X/Twitter saying the studio has a “huge pivot underway.” He added that they are “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.”
Tim Sweeney, Epic CEO
In a follow-up post, Sweeney said: “Our more modest aim is to survive the AI revolution, help other developers do the same, and come out on the other end making better code and content faster.” He continued in another post that “the biggest change will be much faster time from having an idea to playtesting it,” adding this would benefit gameplay since most recent AAA failures could be attributed to game systems going through too much of their development process without being able to playtest.
Disney purchased a $1.5 billion stake in the Fortnite developer in 2024, cementing their relationship at the time. Beyond additional crossovers within Epic’s battle royale-centered video game, the extent of their collaborations remains to be seen. Disney recently refuted claims that it was interested in outright acquiring the studio.
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