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“We are more concerned about the risks of moving too slowly”: Epic get more specific about genAI use in Unreal Engine and Fortnite development
Epic Games says it is using generative AI tools, including Claude Code and Codex, across Unreal Engine and Fortnite development. Executive vice-president Marcus Wassmer said the tools have helped speed up engineering work and reduce bugs, as Epic sees the risk of adopting AI too slowly as greater than the risk of scepticism about it.
Wassmer cited near-elimination of longstanding non-deterministic cooking bugs and smaller patches after shader-compression work. He said a rewrite of part of the D3D12 rendering layer took about a week, compared with his estimate of three to six weeks for one engineer, and brought CPU-time and reliability gains. Fortnite has also added automated PC stability monitoring, issue analysis and fixes; engineers guide AI-assisted coding rather than generating the engine in one step.
In short
- Epic is using Claude Code and Codex in development.
- AI helped complete a D3D12 rewrite in about a week.
- The company says it fears moving too slowly on AI.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Epic’s account suggests that carefully guided AI tools can help engineers tackle difficult maintenance work faster, reduce bugs and improve reliability, freeing staff to focus on higher-value problems. If those gains are real and developers remain responsible for reviewing the code, adopting the tools promptly may benefit both the company and players through smaller patches and more stable games.
The case against
The reported gains are Epic’s own assessments, and speed or fewer detected bugs do not by themselves establish that AI-written changes are safe and maintainable over time. Moving quickly could bring hidden defects, security or licensing concerns, and greater dependence on tools whose limits are still being understood; a more cautious rollout would prioritise independent evaluation and clear accountability before wider use.
Explained simply
Epic Games is the company behind Unreal Engine, software used to build video games, and Fortnite, its online game. The engine and game are developed by teams of engineers who write and maintain code, test changes and fix problems.
Generative AI tools can produce or change code in response to instructions, but their output still needs human direction and review. Epic says its engineers are using these tools for tasks such as finding bugs, improving graphics-related systems and monitoring Fortnite’s stability on PCs.
How these tools are used matters to game developers and players because changes can affect reliability, performance and the size of updates. The debate also reflects a broader question for software companies: how to weigh possible gains from adopting AI against the risks of relying on it.
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