Epic goes all-in on AI for Marvel-Star Wars shooter – fans are outraged

Epic Games is apparently planning a radical shift toward AI in game development. According to discussions in a recent Reddit thread citing a Bloomberg article (paywalled), an as-yet-unannounced shooter featuring characters from the Marvel and Star Wars universes will now be developed using an "AI-first" approach. The game was reportedly scheduled for release in March 2027, but that is no longer happening. Instead, it has been delayed indefinitely.

The new instructions for the development team are particularly controversial. According to the report, a project lead explicitly ordered internally: "No more hand-written code." Rather than writing code themselves, developers are expected to use AI tools such as Anthropic's Claude. Graphics production is also reportedly set to rely entirely on AI-powered workflows. Human developers will remain involved, but their primary role will be to guide and review the results. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has already officially announced the company's AI push on X:

Community responds with boycott threats

On Reddit, Epic's AI push has sparked considerable backlash. One of the top comments comes from u/Propagandhi1988: "Sounds like a great game to never buy." With around 10,000 upvotes, the comment speaks for itself. Many users say they won't buy the shooter simply because of its reliance on AI. The fact that Epic wants to "accelerate" development with AI while simultaneously delaying the game indefinitely has also become a source of amusement.

Beyond the general opposition, there are also some practical concerns. Many commenters doubt that a complex game can be properly developed without handwritten code. Debugging and making changes later in development could become particularly problematic. Just as concerning is the potential impact on developers' jobs. u/SuperDrooper, who says he has worked in the gaming industry for 16 years, describes how his daily work has changed: Instead of explaining to his superiors why his own solutions work, he now has to explain why Claude's suggestions don't work. He fears that such objections may eventually no longer be welcome – putting his job at risk as well.