Epic Games delays Disney shooter, mandates AI-first development

Epic Games has delayed an unannounced shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, originally planned for March, without giving staff a new release date. The company has directed its development team to adopt an "AI-first" production model using tools including Anthropic's Claude for code generation and art workflows, with humans managing and guiding the output. A game director told staff "No more hand-written code" and said all art would be "generated with full AI workflows," according to Bloomberg. Epic communications director Jake Jones said the company is "embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do." The move stunned some developers on a video call. Progress on the Disney game has been slower than expected, partly because Epic underestimated the staff and time required. CEO Tim Sweeney addressed internal criticism, saying "much of the room wants it to be 2016, but it's not," and Epic confirmed what it called a "huge pivot" toward AI. The project falls under a broader partnership with Disney, which announced a planned $1.5 billion investment in Epic in February 2024 and a multiyear agreement to build a connected games and entertainment universe using Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and Avatar properties. Disney (DIS) is the only publicly traded entity with a direct financial stake through that investment. The AI mandate escalates Epic's existing AI push and marks the first time a major video-game company has attempted to build a title primarily with AI tools. It follows Epic's March 2026 layoffs of more than 1,000 employees, which the company attributed to declining Fortnite engagement and financial pressures and said were not related to AI.

(Source：Valdrans)