The gaming company Epic Games has decided to more actively integrate artificial intelligence into game development. Management is requiring employees to use neural networks at all stages of production. In one project, it is claimed, they want to do without any handwritten code at all. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The essence of the changes
Kursiv LifeStyle explains what the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine is preparing for. According to Bloomberg, due to the change in approach, Epic Games has delayed a major shooter in which characters from the Marvel and Star Wars universes were supposed to meet. Initially, the game was planned for release in 2027, but now the timeline has been pushed back indefinitely.
The most radical requirement
The most radical requirement concerns game development. One of the executives stated that the project should not contain "a single line of handwritten code." Programming and even the creation of the visual part are proposed to be entrusted to Claude and other artificial intelligence models.
Tim Sweeney's confirmation
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed that the company is changing its approach to work. On social media X, he even wrote that the company is redistributing developers to accelerate AI adoption.
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.
"Our goal is not to do the same thing with fewer people, but to enable everyone to create more and better," Sweeney said.
Employee doubts
However, Epic employees themselves are shocked by what is happening and doubt that the new approach will prove viable. How successful this experiment will be remains to be seen. For now, it is unclear whether players will want to spend dozens of hours in a game entirely created by neural networks.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote that Bill Gates proposed taxing companies that replace employees with robots and AI. According to him, he would slow down this departure from human labor and bring money for retraining living workers and a stronger social protection system.