Fortnite-maker Epic Games is making a "huge pivot" towards using artificial intelligence (AI) in its video game development, according to boss Tim Sweeney. The US firm's CEO made the announcement on social media, external, saying developers are being moved to "retool for maximum AI acceleration". It comes after Epic delayed the release of a collaboration with Disney featuring characters from Star Wars and Marvel, according to a report from Bloomberg, external.
BBC Newsbeat has approached Epic Games on its use of increased AI and the reported delay to its Disney project. Details on that game are yet to be announced, but Bloomberg reported that developers were asked to use AI tools to finish it. It said directors told staff "no more hand-written code" and are switching to having all the game's art "generated with full AI workflows".
Epic's founder and CEO Sweeney didn't publicly comment on the Disney collab, but did confirm further details around the company's use of AI in a series of posts on X. He said the purpose wasn't "to do the same stuff with fewer people" but to give developers the tools to build "more" and "better stuff", something he called "empowering" for creators. One response on Sweeney's X thread, which received 14,000 likes, accused him of not being able to read the room.
Sweeney responded by saying "much of the room wants it to be 2016, but it's not". "Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be," he said. Sweeney said ramping up the use of AI was a "modest aim to survive the AI revolution" and end up "making better code and content faster".
The news comes six months after Epic confirmed it was laying off more than 1,000 employees. At the time, Sweeney attributed job cuts to a "downturn" in Fortnite engagement rather than AI. The announcement brings a fresh focus to the long-running debate around the role of AI in the creative and arts sector.
Lisha Howen is a full-time game designer and says she "isn't completely against AI", but disagrees with it being used to fully generate artwork and graphics. "I have friends who are game developers that use AI to aid them with writing code," says the 23-year-old, who doesn't work for Epic. "And I have artists who don't use AI at all because artists, especially in the game industry, hate it because it's taking away their jobs.
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