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Austin Manchester is a writer and editor living in New York City. At Polygon, he covers gaming and entertainment news, reviews new video games, interviews behind-the-scenes talent, and more. He enjoys discovering hidden gems and sharing them with Polygon's audience. Previously, he was the gaming editor for AIPT Comics and has written for other outlets like XDA, How-To Geek, and The List.
He enjoys soulslikes, character-driven RPGs, and third-person shooters plucked straight out of the Xbox 360 era. He also likes to flex his non-video game nerdy knowledge sometimes, whether that's explaining who's who in the new Wolverine game or recommending a comic book series about a sentient sword.
Epic Games goes all-in on AI
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Epic Games has delayed an unannounced game that would cross over Marvel and Star Wars characters in a shooter, according to Bloomberg. The Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker is now reportedly pushing the game's developers to use generative AI tools, like Anthropic's Claude, to complete development. The crossover shooter game was previously slated for March 2027, but is now without a new release date.
"No more hand-written code," one of the directors on the game told staff, according to Bloomberg. Developers are now pivoting toward an "AI-first" development process, which includes having all art for the game "generated with full AI workflows," according to the director's message.
Epic Games communications director Jake Jones told Bloomberg, "We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do."
Some Epic developers were reportedly shocked by the AI-first pivot. Shortly before Bloomberg published its story, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the company has a "huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration" in a statement on X. "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."
Epic Games hasn't shied away from using generative AI
Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games in 2024, and also agreed to a multi-game partnership with Epic. The two companies collaborated to bring an AI-voiced Darth Vader into Fortnite last year, and players quickly abused it. This summer, Epic announced it would be using AI to voice three dozen Fortnite skins. The AI voices were trained on the performances of consenting actors in a situation that is not unlike last fall's Arc Raiders AI voice controversy.
A user on X responded to Sweeney's post by saying the CEO wasn't reading the room well in terms of how people view AI use in game development. "Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it's not," Sweeney responded. "Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be. Personally I'm optimisic [sic] about it and see it as empowering for creators."
Epic Games and Sweeney's most recent championing of generative AI tools comes after the company laid off over 1,000 developers in March. Sweeney cited a "downturn in Fortnite engagement" beginning last year that led to Epic Games spending more than it was making.
Bloomberg noted that development on the Marvel and Star Wars game has been slower than Epic expected as the company underestimated how many developers and how much time the game would need, according to Bloomberg's sources.
On X, Sweeney engaged with other users who responded to his post with questions about game development. One user wondered, "How does this line up with firing 1000 people though." Sweeney did not respond to their question.