It’s been roughly half a year since Bloomberg broke news on a collaboration between Epic Games and the Walt Disney Corporation. Back in April, it was reported that a new extraction shooter was in the works between the two companies that would incorporate different elements of Disney’s varied franchises into the mix. Now, Bloomberg is back with a new report stating that not only is the project delayed, but Epic has issued a memo to staff urging staff to incorporate more AI into the game.

Epic Wants ‘No More Hand-Written Code’

Primarily reporting on the delay of the project, Bloomberg was given a look at some internal memos Epic sent to its staff about the direction of the studio. Per one of the game’s directors (who chose to remain anonymous), the development team was instructed to implement an “AI first” production model with heavy reliance on Claude’s code base. The memo also reportedly reads, “No more hand-written code,” with the director stating all the game’s art would be “generated with full AI workflows.”

Epic CEO Seemingly Confirms Report

Seemingly in response to Bloomberg’s report, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney took to Twitter to, essentially, confirm the writing. In a post, he states, “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. 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.” Strangely, this does not add up with decisions made earlier in the year when Epic laid off 1,000 developers because of Fortnite’s falling player numbers.

Project To Be First Public Attempt At All-AI Game

Many publishers and developers have come under fire for AI usage in its games, disclosed or not, but Epic’s supposed Disney collaboration will be the first public attempt at creating an all-AI project. The company hasn’t been shy about how it embraces the controversial technology in recent years, though even developers at the company are surprised at this recent development. In a statement given to Bloomberg, Epic’s communications director, Jake Jones, said, “We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do.”

As the report reads, this announcement left some of the staff stunned during a video call. Many were hoping it wasn’t a serious request by management, while others responded by joking they should ask Claude to fix its own mistakes. Most staff members seem to be in agreement that this initiative won’t be as successful as Epic thinks it will.

Last Word On Epic Using More AI

I’m not surprised when I read a new story about Epic Games embracing AI. Tim Sweeney has been very much in favor of the technology, so the company is unlikely to step away anytime soon. What games me is how he seemingly fails to see the writing on the wall. Sweeney has always been a bit of a dunce, and while he has some incredible technical skills, his recent actions have shown a business executive more worried about cash than quality. One can’t forget the aforementioned layoffs from this year, but Disney also invested $1.5 billion in Epic back in 2024 for future projects. Clearly, Sweeney wants to make this game as quickly as possible rather than risk losing Disney’s major investment.

It doesn’t help that, per Bloomberg, this game was originally scheduled for a March 2026 release. Progress has been slow and with this new delay, Sweeney likely wants to wash his hands of things and get onto the next money-making scheme. Fortnite won’t last forever, after all.