Epic Games has officially confirmed its extensive use of artificial intelligence in the development of Unreal Engine 6 and future updates for Fortnite. Marcus Wassmer, Epic's executive vice president of development, stated in an interview that the company's engineers are now "vibe-coding" its projects, meaning they guide AI tools to achieve desired architectural outcomes rather than writing the majority of the code themselves.
Wassmer clarified that this approach involves iterating with AI to deliver features while ensuring the engine remains within specific memory, performance, and scalability parameters. "We are more concerned about the risks of moving too slowly than we are about AI skepticism," Wassmer added, underscoring Epic's commitment to the technology.
This confirmation follows previous statements from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who has been a vocal proponent of generative AI. However, it marks a change from last year, when Sweeney denied that AI was being used for Unreal Engine updates. The notion of AI "vibe-coding" a major game engine has reportedly raised concerns among some game developers.
Earlier this month, Epic also announced that it had "vibe-coded" a new version of the Epic Games Store launcher, claiming it would be faster and more responsive. This announcement was met with user reports of the launcher exhibiting glitches and, in some cases, causing PC issues. While Epic asserted the launcher booted faster than Steam, Valve released a timely update that diminished the claimed performance difference.
Sweeney has continued to advocate for AI in gaming, envisioning a "golden age of gaming" driven by the technology. He has also criticized Steam's AI disclosure policies as a "political act" that limits developer opportunities, despite ongoing player interest in the origins of game assets and writing.
In line with its "AI-first" development strategy, Epic recently delayed an unannounced game that would have featured a crossover between Marvel and Star Wars characters. Reports suggest that all art for this project will be generated using AI workflows, with a directive of "no more handwritten code."