Epic Games tells Disney shooter team to go AI-first
Epic Games has told developers on its unannounced Disney shooter to stop writing code by hand and switch to an AI-first workflow.
The instruction was reported on 12 October 2026 by VGC, citing a Bloomberg report. Staff were told there would be "no more handwritten code" on the project. A director on the game said in an internal message that all art would now be "generated with full AI workflows," according to the same report.
The game itself has not been formally announced. It is described as a shooter, a game built around ranged combat, made in collaboration with Disney and featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters.
Developers were told the new production model would use tools such as Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, with people managing and guiding the output rather than producing each line and asset directly. Progress on the collaboration had been slower than expected, partly because Epic had underestimated the staffing required, according to the Bloomberg report cited by VGC.
Epic confirmed a shift toward AI-assisted production when approached. "We're embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do," a spokesperson said.
Chief executive Tim Sweeney also addressed the change on social media. He wrote about moving developers to retool for maximum AI acceleration, saying the aim was to let staff build more and better material and to bring benefits to all teams using Unreal, Epic's game-making software.
The Disney collaboration follows a US$1.5 billion investment by Disney in Epic in 2024. That deal, announced by Disney chief executive Bob Iger, was aimed at letting players interact with Disney stories and characters inside connected games and worlds, Reuters reported at the time.
The project carries weight for Epic. On 10 April 2026, Bloomberg reported that the company was pinning a Fortnite comeback on its Disney partnership after recent updates to Fortnite had flopped. Fortnite is Epic's free-to-play online game, supported by seasons of new items and events after launch.
Disney has other AI interests as well. Reuters reported on 11 December 2025 that Disney had agreed to invest US$1 billion in OpenAI and to let OpenAI use Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel characters in Sora, its AI video product.
What makes this stand out is the bluntness of the language. For players, the change will be hard to see until the Disney game appears. For developers, the message is clearer: on this team, the job is now to direct the tools.
