Epic Games, the creator of Unreal Engine, is moving to an 'AI first' development model in its collaboration with Walt Disney Company. Bloomberg reported the news, citing sources familiar with the project, who said an upcoming shooter game set in the Marvel and Star Wars universes will have its entire code written by AI models and all art guided by these systems. The shift marks a radical change in how the company builds software.
Under the new model, there will be no more 'handwritten code' or art produced without AI tools, according to the sources. Human developers will shift to reviewing and guiding the output of AI models rather than writing code or creating assets from scratch. The project, already delayed, now depends entirely on AI systems' ability to deliver material within expected timelines and standards.
For those operating production systems, the news has direct implications. Engineering teams working with Unreal Engine will need to prepare for a workflow in which AI is the primary code producer, not an auxiliary tool. This may reduce demand for programmers specialized in game rendering and physics, but it requires new skills in reviewing AI-generated code and prompt engineering for art and sound generation models.
The Week in Tech understands that Epic Games' decision is a milestone in the software development industry's transition. The company is betting that AI can replace human labor on a large scale, but the fact that the project was already delayed before the change suggests high risks. Those operating Unreal Engine-based systems should closely monitor the quality of generated code, as bugs and inconsistencies may arise from models that lack deep domain understanding.
Until Epic releases public metrics on the efficiency or security of its generated code, the recommendation is for development teams to maintain robust code review and automated testing processes to absorb the impact of the change. The paper does not recommend that other companies copy the model without concrete evidence that it delivers reliable software at scale.