Make compromises: Epic is now another major software company looking to integrate AI into everything it does. According to internal sources, the real test of fire for this “AI First” approach will be the shooter that Epic is developing together with Disney. If it ever comes out.
Epic’s first game under its Disney partnership is well behind schedule, and the publisher is ready to go all-in on generative AI to get it over the finish line. But the push to use AI throughout the development workflow could eventually tear the studio apart.
The sorry state of Epic’s AI push was revealed by unnamed sources in a Bloomberg report. Managers have apparently told developers working on the Disney project to take an “AI first” production approach. A game director urged Epic employees to avoid writing new code manually and instead use Anthropic’s Claude or other chatbot tools.
Epic also wants employees to use AI to generate “art” assets. The same director said that the game’s entire art would come from “full AI workflows.” The massive push to use AI for game development was essentially confirmed by Epic communications director Jake Jones, who said the company was committed to “AI-accelerated” development.
Sweeney himself confirmed this on the day the report was released. He insisted that the goal was not to do the same work with fewer people, but for everyone to build more and better things.
Epic employees reportedly greeted the AI push with little enthusiasm during an internal video call. Some developers joked about using AI to correct the mistakes and hallucinations committed by the AI, while others questioned whether management was serious about the request. Someone suggested that Epic as a company might eventually realize that the push isn’t as successful as executives expect.
Epic has long “truly” believed in the transformative power of LLMs and chatbots. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, calls on the entire industry to enthusiastically embrace generative AI. Sweeney even criticized Valve’s Steam for requiring developers to disclose the use of AI tools, arguing that these labels would eventually become meaningless.
Epic began its major collaboration with Disney in 2024, when the Mickey Mouse mega-corporation invested $1.5 billion in Sweeney’s studio to fund several gaming projects. The aforementioned shooter would be the first project to come out of the partnership and feature characters from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
Previous reports suggested that the Disney shooter was already in poor shape before the new AI push. The game was late, the sources said, because Epic underestimated the manpower and development time required.
With this in mind, Epic’s attempt to accelerate development with LLMs seems like a desperate attempt to address the many problems the company is currently facing. In March 2026, Epic laid off more than 1,000 employees due to a slump in Fortnite engagement.
