Epic tells its Disney shooter team to stop writing code by hand, Bloomberg reports

Epic's public statement and the internal message do not say the same thing. Jake Jones, communications director at Epic Games, said in a statement to Bloomberg: "We're embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do." ^[8] The message to staff said there would be "no more hand-written code" ^[6]. The two fit together only if "led by" means prompting, reviewing and approving. Crypto Briefing describes the arrangement that way: AI tools generate the material, and people review, refine and approve it ^[19].

We think the order is aimed at the staffing problem. Epic cut 1,000 jobs earlier this year, citing in part slower Fortnite sales ^[13], and Bloomberg reported that it had misjudged the headcount this project would need ^[4]. A studio short of people can hire or can raise output per developer, and a rule of no hand-written code is the second option at its limit. The reports do not include a team size or a tooling cost, so a saving cannot be computed, and they do not say whether Epic is adding staff alongside the tools.

The counter-thesis is the originality account. If the internal reviews that reportedly raised concerns about the game's gameplay and mechanics ^[5] were what stalled the project, an AI mandate changes who produces the material and leaves the design question in place. Crypto Briefing called using AI to fix an originality problem a gamble, since AI systems are generally built on existing material ^[17].

Epic has used AI before, for Fortnite concept art, prototyping non-player character dialogue and coding support, and the stated aim was efficiency, not replacing staff ^[15]. Crypto Briefing called making AI the default creator on a flagship title a much bigger step than that ^[16]. A survey cited by Bloomberg found that more than one-third of game developers use AI in their work and more than half believe it is harmful to the industry ^[14].

We would be wrong about the staffing reading if Epic's next disclosure shows the project adding developers, or if the new date lands so far out that the tools bought no time. We would be wrong about the safeguard if human review at Disney's standards consumes the hours that generation saves. Crypto Briefing says Disney's franchises carry strict expectations for how characters look, sound and behave, and that human review is the safeguard ^[18].