The happy-go-lucky bigwigs at Epic Games have asked the creators of an unannounced shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters to complete their project using an “AI first” production model, according to a report, with generated artwork and code. The Disney collaboration in question was supposed to release in March, but has now been delayed indefinitely. We’re told the game’s creators were ordered to make more use of Anthropic’s Claude and similar tools.
The report in question comes from Bloombergwho cite “people familiar with the project,” as well as an alleged internal message from the game’s director. “No more hand-written code,” the director reportedly told developers, with all graphics to be “generated with full AI workflows.”
Epic has, in general, bet big on generative AI. Technology is at the heart of the next iteration of Unreal Engine, much to the chagrin of a lot game developers. Epic already uses stuff like a bike pump to inflate Fortnite character designs into something like a 3D model. They also deployed him to play Darth Vader, drawing the ire of the unions. Meanwhile, the company’s CEO Tim Sweeney keeps complaining about Valve requiring genAI disclosures on Steam, obviously sensing an opportunity to lure AI-curious developers to the perpetually struggling Epic Games Store.
The genAI rush comes as Epic’s workhorse Fortnite begins to run out of steam. Epic laid off more than 1,000 people earlier this year, with Sweeney citing a “slowdown in Fortnite engagement.” This is the company’s biggest wave of layoffs since Epic laid off 16% of its workforce in 2023, after spending too much money trying to turn Fortnite into a “metaverse” – that is, a new species of Internet created by crossing VR combinations with social media, blockchain and Ready Player One. The failure to create a Fortnite metaverse doesn’t inspire much confidence in Epic’s current generative AI player.
Disney took a $1.5 billion stake in Epic in February. A few months later, Bloomberg reported that Epic had ordered a Disney extraction shooter, alongside other Disney efforts. It’s unclear if the pull shooter is the same project mentioned in the new article – the timelines don’t quite match up on paper, with the old Bloomberg article claiming the pull shooter was scheduled to launch for November.
Fortnite’s publishers have neither confirmed nor denied Bloomberg’s account of events, but they did send the outlet a statement seeking to characterize the framing as “AI first.” “We embrace AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers behind everything we do,” writes Jake Jones, Epic’s director of communications. Disney has not yet commented.
Bloomberg says Epic staff joked about tricking the Claude software into correcting its own errors. Others are hoping Epic management will eventually change its mind, or weren’t serious in the first place. Assuming this is all legitimate, I’d say there’s some way to go for this last hope, as much of the work in generative AI is not actually working with the tools, but being seen to do so by a company’s investors. In general, there is a familiar “fake it till you make it” mindset among genAI’s biggest advocates and supporters; so much money has been swallowed up that everyone is under pressure to continue the charade.
