Epic Games has spent most of 2026 trying to win back Fortnite players, after cutting over 1,000 jobs and raising V-Bucks prices in March. Now, the company has reportedly delayed its first Disney game and told developers to finish development with AI tools. The Fortnite community is not taking the news well.
Using his X account, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney confired that the company is in the middle of a major AI pivot. However, the replies quickly turned against him, with some simply reading “RIP Epic.” Others asked whether Fortnite itself can survive Epic’s big plans for the future.
The Disney game is now an “AI first” project, and Fortnite fans are worried
The Disney game is a shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters that was planned for March 2027. The team has reportedly not been given a new release date. Developers were told to adopt an “AI first” production model with tools such as Claude, while humans guide and manage the work.
One of the game’s directors wrote in an internal message that there would be “no more hand-written code,” and that all art would come from AI workflows. Bloomberg reports that several developers were surprised when the plan was shared on a video call, with some questioning how the team would catch mistakes made by AI.
Bloomberg says progress was slower than planned, as Epic underestimated the staff and time the Disney game required. The project appears to be the same extraction shooter Bloomberg reported on in April, when a November 2026 launch was the target. If that is the case, the release window has now moved twice.
Tim Sweeney did not mention the delay in his post. However, he said Epic is moving developers around to “retool for maximum AI acceleration.” According to him, the goal is for everyone at Epic to build more and better things, rather than doing the same work with fewer people, while passing the benefits on to teams using Unreal.
When a reply criticized Sweeney for failing to read the room, he responded that “much of the room wants it to be 2016 again.” The Epic CEO added that, as Epic provides tools to much of the industry, the company has to design for the present and the near future. He also said he is personally optimistic about AI.
The AI push by Epic may not drastically affect Fortnite
Several X users even wrote “RIP Epic,” believing that the popular battle royale game is in trouble as well. Sweeney’s memo earlier this year blamed the layoffs on a downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025, which left Epic spending more than it was making. However, the same memo still described Fortnite as one of the most successful games in the world, which is likely still the case.
It’s important to note that the “AI first” instructions in Bloomberg’s report were given to the Disney game team. Nothing in the report suggests that Fortnite is in danger, and Chapter 8 is currently expected to launch in late November or early December. Sweeney’s March memo also promised “huge launch plans” toward the end of the year.
Epic already uses AI tools in Fortnite’s development. In June, the company showed how its artists use tools like Nano Banana and GPT Image to explore concepts for skins and locations. As fans had already accused Chapter 7 of using AI-generated posters, a company-wide AI push has some players worried about future cosmetics.
In the meantime, our report on the March layoffs at Epic Games covers why the company cut over 1,000 jobs. Furthermore, we’ve also covered how Epic uses AI tools to design Fortnite skins and locations.
