Epic moves its Disney shooter to AI-first development
Epic Games has told the team behind its Disney shooter to build the game "AI first," according to Bloomberg. In this setup, AI produces the code and art first, and people supervise it. Ars Technica summarized the report the same day.
Bloomberg based the story on unnamed people familiar with the project and on internal messages sent to Epic staff. Epic has not confirmed each detail.
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. ／ which cites unnamed people familiar with the project who commented on the significant pivot in internal development at the Unreal Engine maker.View official source →
Internal messages: no more hand-written code
The internal messages Bloomberg saw tell the team to stop writing code by hand. They also say the game's art will come entirely from AI workflows.
On a typical game, programmers write the code and artists draw the characters and levels. Epic's order hands the first pass of both jobs to AI.
That means “no more hand-written code” and art assets “generated with full AI workflows,” according to the report.View official source →
AI models write code and art, developers manage them
Models such as Anthropic's Claude generate the code and art, and Epic's developers manage that output. Their job becomes checking what the AI made and telling it what to fix.
The development setup Bloomberg described
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.View official source →
The March 2027 release is off, with no new date
The Marvel and Star Wars shooter, which Epic has never formally announced, was planned for March 2027 and is now delayed indefinitely, Bloomberg reported. No new release date has been reported.
Part of Disney's $1.5 billion deal with Epic
The shooter comes out of the partnership in which Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games. The two companies announced on February 7, 2024, that they would build a new games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite.
In that announcement, Disney said it would invest $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic. Fortnite had more than 100 million active players and creators at the time. A game from that deal now has no release window.
Disney to invest $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games ／ Open, persistent and social universe will bring Disney stories and experiences to life, interoperating with Fortnite and its more than 100 million active players and creatorsView official source →
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.View official source →
Three reasons Bloomberg gave for the delay
Bloomberg cited three reasons: the AI shake-up, too few staff, and development that moved slower than expected. The report did not say which of the three mattered most.
Status of the delayed shooter (as of the report)
That project has now been delayed indefinitely amid the AI-related shakeup and understaffed, slower-than-expected development thus far, according to the report.View official source →
What Epic and Tim Sweeney said about the pivot
Epic's spokesperson and CEO Tim Sweeney both confirmed the shift to AI after the report. Neither gave a new release date.
Spokesperson says Epic developers lead the work
An Epic spokesperson said in a statement that the company is adopting AI-accelerated development and that its developers are the ones leading it. The report framed the setup as AI producing work for people to manage. The statement puts the developers first, calling them the visionaries and creative drivers behind everything Epic does.
“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.View official source →
Sweeney says the goal is not fewer people
Tim Sweeney posted on X shortly after the Bloomberg story that Epic is in the middle of a huge pivot. He wrote that the company is moving developers around to get the most out of AI.
He added that the point is not to do the same work with fewer people. Instead, he wants everyone at Epic to build more and better things, and to pass the gains on to teams that use Unreal. The post does not mention the delayed shooter.
We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, 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.View official source →
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story was posted.View official source →
Epic has pushed AI in game development for years
Sweeney and Epic have argued for a while that AI will reshape how games are made. The shooter's new workflow follows the direction he has described in public.
Sweeney called Steam's AI labels pointless
In November 2025, Sweeney said AI disclosure tags like the ones Steam requires "make no sense." His reason was that AI tools will be part of nearly all future production. In a June 2026 interview with IGN, he said AI would let small teams make games with huge casts of characters and large interactive worlds.
Two other recent events at Epic give context. In March 2026, it laid off more than 1,000 employees, pointing mainly to a drop in Fortnite engagement. In May 2025, an AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite started swearing until Epic shipped a hotfix.
“small teams will be able to create games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds.” ／ Sweeney said last November that AI usage disclosure tags such as those required by Valve’s Steam platform “make no sense” because AI tools “will be involved in nearly all future production.” ／ Epic laid off over 1,000 employees in March, citing a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” as the main reason behind the move. ／ Last May, Epic and Disney faced some embarrassment when an AI-voiced Darth Vader character added to Fortnite started repeating curse words and uttering some baffling opinions before a hotfix was rolled out.View official source →
Only 47% of AI users in games use it for code
Among game industry workers who use generative AI, 47% use it to help with code. The figure comes from a survey of more than 2,300 game industry professionals run ahead of GDC (the Game Developers Conference) 2026. Overall, 36% said they use generative AI at work, and 30% of those at game studios did.
The most common use was research and brainstorming at 81%, followed by code help at 47% and prototyping at 35%. In an industry where fewer than half of AI users apply it to code, Epic has gone as far as ending hand-written code on a major project.
The messages named Claude as one of the models. "What Is Claude AI? Free Plan, Models, vs ChatGPT" explains its models and free plan.
A survey of over 2,300 game industry professionals ahead of this year’s Game Developers Conference found that 36 percent used generative AI tools as part of their jobs, including 30 percent of those at game development studios. But those AI tools were used for tasks like research and brainstorming (by 81 percent of AI-using respondents) much more than for code assistance (47 percent) and prototyping (35 percent).View official source →
Where Epic's Disney shooter stands now
Epic's Marvel and Star Wars shooter for Disney is now built with AI generating the code and art while developers manage it. Its March 2027 release is off.
Epic's spokesperson and Sweeney have confirmed the AI pivot. Neither has given a new release date.
The details of the order and the reasons for the delay come from Bloomberg's sources and the internal messages it saw. The move to AI itself is on the record from Epic, in a spokesperson's statement and in Sweeney's own post.
FAQ
- When will Epic's Disney shooter come out?
- There is no date. Bloomberg reported that the game had been planned for March 2027 and is now delayed indefinitely. Epic's spokesperson and CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed the move to AI but did not give a new release date.
- What do developers do in Epic's AI-first setup?
- They manage and steer what the AI produces. According to internal messages Bloomberg saw, models such as Anthropic's Claude generate the code and art, and the team reviews that output and decides how to change it.
- Is Epic using AI to cut staff?
- Tim Sweeney says no. In his post on X, he wrote that the goal is not to do the same work with fewer people, but to let everyone at Epic build more and better things, and to pass the benefits on to teams using Unreal.
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