Epic Games is at the center of another AI development controversy! According to Bloomberg, Epic Games is developing an unannounced shooter game featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, but recently suddenly demanded the development team adopt an “AI-first” production model, leaving many employees stunned.
According to reports, the team was told to use AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude to assist development, with rumors that code would no longer be handwritten and game art must be generated entirely through AI workflows. This policy was announced in internal meetings and came as quite a shock, leaving developers confused about the new direction.
Originally Planned for 2027, Now Delayed
The game was originally reportedly planned for a March 2027 release, but has now been delayed due to slow development progress and insufficient team staffing, with no new release date announced yet. More notably, Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games back in 2024, with plans to collaborate on creating new gaming and entertainment experiences. This shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters together was a key part of that partnership. However, Epic cut around 1,000 employees in March this year, and now demanding the development team significantly pivot to AI production inevitably raises questions about whether the company intends to use AI to reshape game development staffing and workflows.
Epic Executives Support AI, But Employees Worry About Quality Control!
In response to the reports, Epic Games spokesperson Jake Jones said the company is adopting a developer-led AI-accelerated development model, emphasizing that creators remain central to the entire production process. CEO Tim Sweeney has also publicly stated that the company is pushing a large-scale AI transformation, hoping to let teams create more and better work faster, rather than simply doing the same work with fewer employees.
However, some team members involved in the project feel shocked by this shift and worry about how to check and fix errors when AI-generated code and art inevitably contain mistakes. After all, AI can speed up output, but that doesn’t mean all results can be directly put into games. Especially when an entire game is supposed to be made primarily using AI, whether the final quality and creative direction can be maintained is perhaps what players truly care about.