Epic Games Delays Disney Project to Pivot to 'AI First' Workflow

Epic Games has postponed the release of an upcoming video game project tied to its partnership with The Walt Disney Company to rework development around an "AI first" approach, according to a report from Engadget (https://www.engadget.com/2284680/epic-reportedly-delays-its-disney-video-game-so-it-can-be-made-using-more-ai/) citing Bloomberg.

According to internal communications reported by Bloomberg, one of the game's directors informed production staff that the project would eliminate manual coding and shift creative pipelines toward automation. The internal directive called for "no more hand-written code" and ordered that all visual assets for the project be "generated with full AI workflows."

The mandate drew skepticism from internal developers, with some staff hoping the directive was not fully serious. The operational shift follows Epic's ongoing integration of generative artificial intelligence tooling into its Unreal Engine development suite throughout the year.

Epic Games confirmed its strategy in a statement to Bloomberg from Communications Director Jake Jones. "We're embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do," Jones said.

The project is part of a broader collaboration stemming from Disney's $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games in 2024 to build a persistent "games and entertainment universe." The specific project was previously rumored to be an extraction shooter comparable to Arc Raiders. Originally anticipated for release in November, the game's schedule had already been moved back to March before the AI mandate was issued, according to Bloomberg.

The transition at Epic comes amid rising industry skepticism toward generative AI. Data from the Game Developers Conference's annual survey found that 52 percent of game developers believe generative AI is bad for the industry, up from 30 percent in 2025. The survey noted that while developers utilize generative AI tools, usage remains concentrated in research and coding tasks rather than generative asset creation.