Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has delayed the shooter it is developing with Disney, featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters, and told the team to rebuild the project with artificial intelligence at the center of production. The news comes from a report by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier published on Monday, October 12. Hours later, CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed on X that the company is going through a "huge pivot" to accelerate its work with AI. It is one of the most radical moves yet by a major studio in adopting the technology.

What Bloomberg revealed

According to the report, the unannounced game is a shooter that brings together Marvel and Star Wars characters, part of the partnership struck in 2024, when Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic to create an "entertainment universe" connected to Fortnite. It was planned for release in March, but has been delayed, and the team has not been given a new date.

In an internal message, one of the project's directors reportedly said the game's art will now be made with fully AI-based workflows and that there will be "no more hand-written code." Developers were reportedly told to use tools such as Anthropic's Claude, with people managing and guiding the work. Also according to Bloomberg, the project was behind schedule partly because Epic underestimated how many people it would need, and the announcement of the change, made on a video call, left some of the team stunned.

What Epic says

A company spokesperson said Epic is embracing AI-accelerated development, led by its own developers. Tim Sweeney went further on X: he said the company is moving teams around to retool for "maximum AI acceleration" and that the goal is not to do the same work with fewer people, but to let everyone build more and better things.

The comment stands out because, in March 2026, Epic laid off more than a thousand employees, citing declining Fortnite numbers. Sweeney has also criticized Steam for requiring studios to disclose AI use in games, and Epic itself announced in June that Unreal Engine 6 will integrate AI models such as Claude and Gemini to cut down on repetitive tasks.

Why it matters

Epic is not just any studio: Unreal Engine is used by much of the industry, and Fortnite is one of the biggest gaming platforms in the world. When a company of this size decides to make an entire game with AI at its core, the message reaches the whole sector, both because of the promise of faster production and because of the questions about quality, copyright, and jobs for artists and programmers.

The topic already divides the industry. On the same day, another story made the rounds: Yuji Horii, creator of Dragon Quest, said he made an entire game with AI in about half an hour and called the result "astonishing," drawing a reaction from fans who have been waiting years for Dragon Quest 12.

What we still don't know

  • The game's name and its new release date.
  • Whether Disney took part in the decision to change how the game is made.
  • Whether the AI pivot also applies to Fortnite and Epic's other projects.

For other big industry moves this week, read about US console sales hitting their worst point in decades.