Elon Musk sided with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who says AI gaming tools will usher in a new golden age. Sweeney argues AI will make games viable that once cost several times more to build than they earned.
Yet Sweeney does not frame AI as a replacement for skilled programmers. Instead, he says most coding work was never the hard part to begin with.
Why the Unreal Engine Creator Calls 70% of Coding Routine
In a follow-up post on X, Sweeney broke down how he spent his time while writing Unreal Engine 1. Epic’s game engine first shipped with the shooter Unreal in 1998.
About 30% went to hard problems such as texture mapping, networking, and systems design. The other 70% was typing and refactoring large blocks of code.
He likened that routine work to modern vibe coding, where developers prompt AI and review the results. So, using AI gaming tools for that 70% always seemed logical to him.
The bigger surprise, he says, is AI tackling harder tasks too. He compared it to John Carmack, the id Software co-founder and lead programmer behind Doom and Quake.
“What’s more of a surprise is the emergence of AI as a sort of insta-Carmack able to solve hard technical problems quite cleverly and often cleanly.”
Sweeney
When I was writing Unreal Engine 1, my time was divided as follows:
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 18, 2026
– Around 30% went to seriously deep coding on hard problems: assembly language texture mappers, C++ BSP trees, data persistence, object oriented systems design, and networking.
– Around 70% was just typing and…
Similar gains show up outside gaming. In May, an OpenAI model cracked an 80-year math problem on its own.
What AI Gaming Means for Studios
Musk’s one-word reply, “True,” drew more than 2 million views on X.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2026
Earlier this month, Epic told staff to stop writing code by hand in an AI coding push.
Sweeney expects the creative side to change too. Designers could write a character’s bio, personality, and mannerisms instead of every line of dialog.
AI is shaking up the nature of the creative work being done, pushing more towards direction and away from tweaking everything manually. The key parts of a game will be heavily directed by creatives, but AI will enable modes of creativity that just aren't possible now.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 18, 2026
For…
He pointed to Fortnite’s Darth Vader event as an early example. In May 2025, players chatted live with an AI Vader using the late James Earl Jones’s voice. Some players quickly tricked the character into swearing.
If AI gaming tools cut development time and cost, studio work could shift from typing code toward design and concept art. That matters in an industry where GTA 6’s long delays even drew mockery from the White House.
For Sweeney, the end product is what counts, not how developers build it.
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