Epic Games has reportedly mandated a sizable shift to its development principles, with Bloomberg reporting that the company has delayed an upcoming Disney game amid the project’s shift to an “AI-first” production model.
The change, which was backed up in part by a social media statement from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shortly after publication, marks a very high-profile adoption of generative AI tools in a field where use of the nascent tech is still considered controversial among some developers and players.
According to the Bloomberg report, developers working on the upcoming Star Wars and Marvel shooter have been instructed to lean heavily on AI during development, especially during the creation of code and art. In an email reviewed by the publication, the game’s director reportedly told developers that the title’s art should be “generated with full AI workflows” and to use “no more hand-written code”. News of the pivot was paired with a delay: the game’s release is shifting away from its March target and to a new but yet-unrevealed release date further down the line.
Related:Unity unveils Unity Spark, an prompt-based tool for Google’s AI game platform
Shortly after rumors of the AI pivot started to circulate in the wake of Bloomberg’s recording,
