Epic Games Tells Developers No More Hand-Written Code In Major AI Push

Epic Games hasn’t shied away from its integration of AI into its development workflows as it continues to deliver a steady cadence of content drops for its various titles including its cash cow, Fortnite. However, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the company is set to push even further with how it deploys AI into the game development process as one of its projects has fallen behind schedule.

The main driver behind the push for more AI use is that the development of an unannounced shooter, which taps into the lore and characters of Star Wars and Marvel, is now behind schedule. It was originally planned for it to be released in March of 2027, but that date has been pushed back because “Epic underestimated how many staffers and how much time it would take to produce, said the people.” That the company laid off 1,000 employees earlier this year didn’t help matters.

Developers working on this game have been told it must be made using “AI first” production methods going forward. This includes the use of coding tools such as Claude, which is made by AI firm Anthropic. Developers were told that there should be “no more hand-written code.” Meanwhile, artists learned that any of the assets that they create for the game must be “generated with full AI workflows.”

Many of the developers were caught off guard by these new marching orders and have serious concerns about this new approach to game development. The biggest sticking point revolved around any errors that might arise from using Claude, should they fix it themselves or should they ask the AI to implement the fix itself? There’s enough uncertainty among the team that some are hoping that the company will back off the new mandate.

Time will tell how this new AI led production process works out for Epic Games, but the outcome will likely be instructive for the rest of the video game industry.