Epic Games has delayed the shooter it is making with Disney and told the development team to switch to an “AI first” production model, Bloomberg reported on 12 October 2026. The game has not been formally announced, but it reportedly features characters from Marvel and Star Wars. GameTales could not open the paywalled Bloomberg article; this report relies on accounts published the same day by Engadget and Insider Gaming, both citing Bloomberg.
“No more hand-written code”
According to Bloomberg’s sources, one of the game’s directors told staff the project would follow an “AI first” plan, with “no more hand-written code” and art “generated with full AI workflows”. Insider Gaming adds that the team was asked to use tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, with humans still overseeing and managing the work. Both outlets say some developers reacted badly to the instruction, and some hoped it was not meant seriously.
The delay came before the AI directive
Insider Gaming says the shooter had been scheduled for March 2027 and has now slipped, with no new date. Engadget notes that earlier rumours pointed to a November launch, and that Bloomberg had reported the move to March before the AI directive. The slip therefore cannot be blamed on AI, and nothing yet shows that AI will speed the game up. Neither Epic nor Disney has published a release date, so all of these dates are reported, not confirmed.
Epic and Tim Sweeney respond
Epic did not deny the report. Communications director Jake Jones told Bloomberg that Epic is “embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do”, Engadget reports. Insider Gaming also quotes a 12 October post on X by chief executive Tim Sweeney: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration.” Sweeney continued that the aim “isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people” but to let staff build “MORE and BETTER stuff” and to bring the benefits to teams using Unreal. GameTales could not open the post on X directly, so these quotations come from Insider Gaming’s report.
What Unreal users and the team still don’t know
Epic is both a game developer and the maker of Unreal Engine, and the reported plan covers code and art, so it would apply to the whole production rather than one department. Sweeney’s link to Unreal suggests the internal effort could eventually shape the tools Epic offers other studios. The reports leave several questions open:
- what share of the shipped code and art will actually be AI-generated;
- how human review will work, and who will own creative decisions;
- whether the change affects team size or roles, even though Sweeney says headcount reduction is not the goal;
- when the game will launch.
Disclosure: GameTales’ research desk uses Anthropic’s Claude Code, one of the tools named in the reporting. This article is based only on the cited public reports.