Epic Games has told developers on its unannounced Disney shooter to switch to an “AI-first” production model, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Epic Games AI mandate covers both code and art on the project, which uses characters from Marvel and Star Wars and has slipped past its planned March 2027 release.
The policy arrived last week, and Bloomberg reports that many staff on the game reacted with confusion and shock. No major games company has yet built its main development pipeline around generative AI. If the plan holds, Epic would be the first to do it on a project of this size.
What the Epic Games AI mandate requires
Leadership told the team to build the game with Anthropic‘s Claude models and to stop using “hand-written code.” The instruction applies across engineering, not just to a pilot group.
Artists face the same rule. The game’s director, who has not been named, reportedly told the team that all art should be “generated with full AI workflows.” That puts character models, environments and other visual work for Marvel and Star Wars heroes inside the same AI pipeline.
Epic defended the change in a statement. “We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do,” said Jake Jones, communications director at Epic Games.
Sweeney’s stance and the staff response
CEO Tim Sweeney has spoken in favor of generative AI for some time. He has also criticized Steam for requiring developers to disclose AI use on their store pages.
Inside the company, the Epic Games AI policy has met a cooler response. Neither Bloomberg nor Epic has explained what checks are in place to catch mistakes made by AI tools. It is also unclear how the studio plans to stop low-quality generated output from reaching the finished game.
A delayed game and a smaller studio
According to Bloomberg, the shooter was scheduled for March 2027. It has now slipped because of slow progress and understaffed teams, and no new release window has been reported.
The game is part of a wider partnership with Disney, which invested $1.5 billion in Epic in 2024 to fund collaborations that include this project. Earlier this year, however, Epic laid off around 1,000 employees. Kotaku ties those cuts to struggles at Fortnite and the cost of Epic’s ongoing antitrust litigation.
AI tools spread through modding scenes
The Epic Games AI push comes as AI coding tools move quickly through hobbyist communities. In recent weeks, modding and homebrew groups have released a wave of “vibe-coded” projects built with newer models such as Claude Opus 5.5. These range from PS5 jailbreak work to browser versions of classic games.
Large studios have been more cautious so far. Companies that hinted at heavy AI use in development have drawn loud backlash from players online. Epic now plans to go further than any of them, on a game built around two of Disney’s biggest franchises.