Fortnite Maker Epic Games Tells Developers to Stop Writing Code by Hand

Epic Games has delayed its unannounced Disney shooter and told the team to stop writing code by hand, Bloomberg reported. Under the new Epic Games AI plan, developers must steer tools such as Anthropic’s Claude.

The Fortnite maker calls the move a bid for speed, not cuts. However, the order lands months after Epic laid off more than 1,000 workers, roughly 20% of its staff.

Can an Epic Games AI Workflow Rescue a Stalled Disney Project?

According to Bloomberg, a game director told staff there would be “no more hand-written code.” The crossover title, which features Marvel and Star Wars characters, currently has no release date.

On the same day, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney described “a huge pivot” toward AI acceleration on X.

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.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 12, 2026

He said the aim is to help staff build more and better games, not to shrink teams.

Still, the Epic Games AI shift drew instant pushback amid rising AI job cuts. One critic accused Sweeney of failing to read the room. In response, he argued that much of the industry simply wants it to be 2016 again.

Why Does Sweeney Think Games Will Start Merging?

Sweeney believes faster idea-to-playtest cycles could prevent many recent flops among big-budget AAA games.

When a user asked whether Epic hopes to halve development time, he shared figures. Today, speedups range from 20% in technical engine work to 5x in web development, he wrote.

By next year, he expects almost no area to sit below 3x its January 2026 efficiency.

Looking further ahead, Sweeney predicted that connecting and mashing up different games comes next. Enthusiasts already experiment with it, he noted.

Even so, he stressed that stable shared engines help. Scaling software remains the hardest task, even for AI, he added.

Asked about a possible IPO, Sweeney called Epic’s goal more modest. The company wants to survive the AI revolution and help other developers do the same.

Meanwhile, Anthropic is pushing cheaper Claude coding models as rivals such as Meta’s Muse Code tool chase it. If the Epic Games AI model works, other studios may copy the playbook.