Epic Games reportedly pivoting to "AI first" game development model

Epic Games is shifting to an “AI first” development strategy for its collaboration with the Walt Disney Company, letting AI models write all the code and guide all the artwork for an upcoming shooter. That’s according to a Bloomberg report, which cites unnamed people familiar with the project who commented on the significant pivot in internal development at the Unreal Engine maker.

据彭博社报道，Epic Games 正在为其与华特迪士尼公司的合作项目转向“人工智能优先”的开发策略，让 AI 模型编写所有代码并指导即将推出的一款射击游戏的所有美术设计。该报道援引了熟悉该项目的匿名人士的话，他们评论了这家虚幻引擎制造商内部开发模式的重大转变。

Human developers will be tasked with managing and guiding code and art assets generated by models such as Anthropic’s Claude, according to internal Epic employee messages viewed by Bloomberg. That means “no more hand-written code” and art assets “generated with full AI workflows,” according to the report.

根据彭博社查阅的 Epic 内部员工信息，人类开发人员的任务将是管理和引导由 Anthropic 的 Claude 等模型生成的代码和美术资产。据报道，这意味着“不再有手写代码”，美术资产将“通过全 AI 工作流程生成”。

The $1.5 billion collaboration between Epic and Disney, announced in early 2024, was slated to release a Marvel- and Star Wars-themed shooter in March 2027. That project has now been delayed indefinitely amid the AI-related shakeup and understaffed, slower-than-expected development thus far, according to the report.

Epic 与迪士尼于 2024 年初宣布了价值 15 亿美元的合作，原定于 2027 年 3 月发布一款以漫威和星球大战为主题的射击游戏。据报道，由于与 AI 相关的重组以及目前人手不足、开发进度慢于预期，该项目现已被无限期推迟。

“We’re embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do,” an Epic spokesperson said in a statement. “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on social media shortly after the Bloomberg story was posted.

Epic 发言人在一份声明中表示：“我们正在拥抱 AI 加速开发，由作为我们一切工作愿景和创意驱动力的 Epic 开发人员领导。”在彭博社报道发布后不久，Epic 首席执行官蒂姆·斯威尼（Tim Sweeney）在社交媒体上写道：“Epic 正在进行巨大的转型，我们正在调动开发人员，以实现 AI 加速的最大化。”

“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.”

“我们的目标不是用更少的人做同样的事情，而是让这里的每个人都能构建更多、更好的东西，并将这些益处带给所有使用虚幻引擎的团队。”

Sweeney and Epic have long been bullish on what they see as an impending game development revolution spurred by AI. In an interview with IGN in June, Sweeney saw the technology resulting in games with “the possibility of infinite dialogue with a really simple setup for creators,” leading to situations where “small teams will be able to create games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds.”

斯威尼和 Epic 长期以来一直看好由 AI 推动的即将到来的游戏开发革命。在 6 月接受 IGN 采访时，斯威尼认为这项技术将使游戏“有可能通过非常简单的创作者设置实现无限对话”，从而导致“小团队将能够创造出拥有海量角色以及广阔互动世界的游戏”。

Epic laid off over 1,000 employees in March, citing a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” as the main reason behind the move. Months later, Fortnite Senior External Development Manager Stephanie Arnette said that “I know everyone’s biggest fear is, ‘Oh my god, AI is going to take all our jobs.’ That’s not our goal. The goal is to make us more efficient.”

Epic 在 3 月份裁员超过 1,000 人，称“《堡垒之夜》参与度下降”是此举背后的主要原因。几个月后，《堡垒之夜》高级外部开发经理斯蒂芬妮·阿内特（Stephanie Arnette）表示：“我知道大家最大的恐惧是‘天哪，AI 要抢走我们所有的工作了’。那不是我们的目标。我们的目标是让我们更有效率。”

A survey of over 2,300 game industry professionals ahead of this year’s Game Developers Conference found that 36 percent used generative AI tools as part of their jobs, including 30 percent of those at game development studios. But those AI tools were used for tasks like research and brainstorming (by 81 percent of AI-using respondents) much more than for code assistance (47 percent) and prototyping (35 percent).

在今年游戏开发者大会（GDC）之前，一项针对 2,300 多名游戏行业专业人士的调查发现，36% 的人将生成式 AI 工具作为工作的一部分，其中包括 30% 在游戏开发工作室工作的人员。但这些 AI 工具更多地被用于研究和头脑风暴（81% 的 AI 使用者），而非代码辅助（47%）和原型设计（35%）。