Without a Release Date, Epic’s Marvel and Star Wars Shooter Reportedly Goes AI-First

Company: Epic Games | Project: Unannounced Marvel and Star Wars shooter (Disney partnership) | Previous Target: March 2027 (reported) | New Date: None | Statut : Reported by Bloomberg, AI shift confirmed by Epic

Epic Games’ Marvel and Star Wars shooter no longer has a release date, according to Bloomberg’s October 12 report. The same report says the team now works under an AI-first mandate covering both code and art. Epic has not confirmed the delay, yet CEO Tim Sweeney has openly championed the shift behind it.

A Memo With No Room for Hand-Written Code

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that the project had fallen behind schedule. To catch up, one of its directors told staff there would be “no more hand-written code.” All art would also come from full AI workflows, with developers steering the output.

The team will reportedly lean on AI tools, including Anthropic’s Claude. Several developers told Bloomberg they doubted the plan. In fact, the news reportedly stunned some staff on the video call announcing it.

Why Epic Games Calls the Pivot Survival

The Fortnite maker did not push back on the report. Communications director Jake Jones told Bloomberg the company is embracing AI-accelerated development. As Game Informer reported, he stressed the work is “led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers.”

Sweeney went further on X, describing a major pivot that moves developers around for maximum AI acceleration. When critics objected, he said the goal is simply to survive the AI revolution. According to Massively Overpowered, he told one detractor that “much of the room wants it to be 2016 again.”

A Vibe-Coded Launcher Adds Fuel

Two days after the report, the Unreal Engine company previewed a new Epic Games Launcher. Its official blog post admitted the team vibe coded it because programming is hard. The post also claimed it opens 46 percent faster than Steam.

Early users told a different story. Game Informer pointed to a video from Aftermath’s Chris Person showing the preview as laggy and unresponsive. Consequently, critics seized on the launcher as a live example of AI-built software falling short.

Disney’s $1.5 Billion Bet, Still Waiting

The shooter grew out of Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic, announced in February 2024. Both companies promised a Disney universe connected to Fortnite. Earlier in 2026, Bloomberg described the game as an extraction shooter in the vein of Arc Raiders.

Beyond Fortnite cosmetics, though, the partnership has shipped little. Meanwhile, Epic Games cut more than 1,000 jobs in March 2026. At the time, Sweeney blamed falling Fortnite engagement rather than AI.

Two Ways to Read the Pivot

The arguments on each side are easy to state, and hard to settle:

• Epic’s case: AI could let a smaller staff ship more, which Sweeney frames as survival. Epic also insists humans keep control of creative decisions.
• The skeptics’ case: Swapping an entire pipeline mid-project rarely speeds things up, and this game has already slipped. Fully AI-generated art also raises quality and licensing questions for Disney’s most valuable brands.
• The unknown: No major commercial game has shipped on a fully AI-first pipeline. As a result, this shooter could become the industry’s biggest test case.

Proof Needed, Not Promises

Epic is staking a struggling Marvel and Star Wars project on an unproven way of making games. So far, a shaky launcher preview and a missing release date give fans little reason for confidence. Until the studio shows real footage, AI-first remains a slogan, so players should brace for a long wait.

Details of the delay, the March 2027 target, and the internal memo come from Bloomberg’s sources. Neither Epic nor Disney has officially confirmed them, although Epic has confirmed its broader AI-first shift. MegaGames will update this article as new information becomes available.