After investing an eye-watering $1.5 billion into Epic Games back in 2024, Disney and the Fortnite developer are betting hard on artificial intelligence when it comes to their next project. Disney has been bringing some of its most well-known IP to Fortnite ever since that deal went through, but the two companies are looking to the future of this partnership, and it could prove to be a huge turning point for the entire industry. It’s no secret that Disney isn’t just one of the most powerful companies in entertainment, but also the world in general.
From moves to theme parks, Disney has evolved into the entertainment industry equivalent of Coca-Cola. It’s a brand that is recognized globally, and as Spider-Man says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Now that Disney partially owns the web-slinging hero’s rights, the company hopefully takes that message to heart and treads carefully with its Epic Games partnership, because the two joining forces on AI-first game development is a massive gamble that could have serious ripple effects.
For Better or Worse, Disney and Epic Games’ New AI Shooter Is Going to Influence the Industry’s Future
The news that Epic Games is using AI to finish development on its Disney project has made some serious waves. This report originally came from Bloomberg, with journalist Jason Schreier breaking the news and detailing a leaked memo regarding the project. The game has been delayed from its rumors March 2027 release date indefinitely, and in the meantime, Epic Games has instructed developers to make art that is “generated with full AI workflows” and to forego code written by hand.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
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When it comes to future development, Epic Games wants devs to utilize LLMs like Claude in every single step of the process. It’s a shocking revelation that has reportedly even taken a lot of employees by surprise. Even though the memo was leaked, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney took to Twitter and made it clear that the company will fully embrace AI moving forward.
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.
Unsurprisingly, this announcement has proven to be incredibly divisive. Of course, there are going to be plenty of gamers who are unbothered by this, but the debate about using AI in game development is just as heated as the physical vs. digital games debate. Between this and the Epic Games layoffs that hit the company earlier this year, the developer has left many gamers deeply frustrated. Tim Sweeney isn’t the only CEO who has made their stance on AI clear. The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, and his words mirror Sweeney’s.
It’s something that we’re embracing, and you’re seeing it supercharge these creatives in amazing ways, and they’ve embraced artificial intelligence.
With both CEOs fully on board with using AI, it’s not really much of a surprise that Epic Games and Disney have chosen this route with its mysterious multiplayer shooter. However, the big question I’m eager to see answered is if Sweeney and D’Amaro’s optimism is actually backed up by the finished product.
Disney and Epic Games Are About to Prove If AI Game Development Is Feasible for Future Projects
I want to make my stance clear that I think AI is useful for certain things, but including it into the creative process is a bad idea. The challenge of creativity is what makes the experience and final product so rewarding. However, regardless of how I and others feel about the subject, Disney and Epic Games are going to use AI as much as possible if it proves to actually streamline game development in the way that the two are hoping. If Disney and Epic Games succeed in making a game that feels and looks just as good as a game that’s crafted with handmade code, then other developers are bound to follow suit.
Of course, not every developer will get on board, but it wouldn’t be surprising if there ended up being a huge wave of games made with AI-assisted coding. Just recently, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii made a game with AI in a matter of 30 minutes. Even if AI is a deal-breaker for some gamers, the hard truth is that it won’t stop certain developers from utilizing the tech.
Disney and Epic Games Could Change the Industry in a Much Different Way, Too
There is still a silver lining for AI game development naysayers. It’s easy to see this news and assume that Disney and Epic Games’ project is going to be a hit and make AI-led development the new norm. However, there is just as much of a possibility that the project proves that AI-first game development doesn’t work. If that’s the case, then Disney and Epic Games risk spending a lot of time and effort on a technology that isn’t proven to be the time-saving tool that so many CEOs want it to be.
At the moment, it’s merely a waiting game. For myself, an AI-first game is a deal-breaker, but that won’t be the case for other gamers. The choice will fully be up to the gamer to decide. It will probably be a while before more news on Disney’s Epic Games shooter comes to light, but no matter what happens, it’s going to be wild to watch how it influences the rest of the industry.
