Months after a mass layoff, Epic Games reportedly turns to AI to complete its major Disney collaboration project.
Epic Games is reportedly maximising AI usage to accelerate development of its major Fortnite x Disney collaboration project, which was internally delayed after being in the works for more than two years. The game is reported to be a shooter featuring both Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
According to sources cited by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier (as reported by Eurogamer), the Epic x Disney universe was originally planned for March 2027. With the project development reportedly falling behind schedule, Epic has instructed its staff to adopt an “AI-first” approach to get its progress back on track.
The company’s game director reportedly told Bloomberg that there would be “no more hand-written code." Art for the game would also be “generated with full AI workflows," using tools such as Anthropic’s Claude.
Despite the significant backlash against generative AI in recent years, Epic Games is not keeping its AI strategy under wraps. CEO Tim Sweeney publicly announced on X that the company is reorganising its development teams to achieve “maximum AI acceleration”.
“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.”
What is the Fortnite x Disney collaboration project?
Epic Games and Disney have maintained a long-standing relationship through Fortnite’s in-game collaborations, dating back to the battle royale’s early years. Their first major crossover brought Marvel villain Thanos into the game in May 2018. Since then, Fortnite has introduced a wide range of Disney-owned franchises, including other Marvel heroes, Star Wars, The Incredibles and, most recently, Toy Story.
But, Disney has much bigger plans. In February 2024, it acquired a US$1.5 billion equity stake in Epic Games and announced a multi-layer collaboration to develop a new “games and entertainment universe”.
Exactly how the project will integrate with Fortnite remains to be seen, but Disney has described it as an interoperable ecosystem that will bring the two worlds together.
Disney has named Pixar, Star Wars and Avatar among the franchises that will feature in the project, allowing users to “create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love”. The project is expected to become a vast entertainment multiverse, with Fortnite potentially serving as its central playground.
The situation is particularly ironic given that Epic laid off 1,000 employees just seven months ago, a move expected to save more than US$500 million in costs. At the time, the company said the cuts were intended to put Epic in a more “stable place”. Now, the company is reportedly turning to AI to accelerate development as it works towards its next major milestone.
