Epic Games confirms AI tools are building Unreal Engine 6 and Fortnite

Epic Games, Inc. is using generative artificial intelligence tools to build code for its upcoming Unreal Engine 6 software and Fortnite updates, according to reports from Game Developer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, PC Gamer, and Polygon. Marcus Wassmer, executive vice president of development at Epic Games, confirmed the initiative in comments made to This Week in Video Games. Wassmer stated that the company is actively using artificial intelligence to develop code and features for its core game development engine. [1][2][3][4][5]

Eurogamer and PC Gamer both report that Wassmer noted company engineers are no longer writing the bulk of the code manually. Wassmer stated that Epic Games is more concerned about the risks of moving too slowly than it is about artificial intelligence skepticism. Game Developer reported that Wassmer also credited artificial intelligence code tools with fixing decade-old non-deterministic cooking bugs in the Unreal Engine software. [1][3][4]

The company previously used artificial intelligence to rewrite the Epic Games Launcher software and recently hosted an artificial intelligence game jam, according to PC Gamer. Game Developer and TechPowerUp report that Epic Games is also centering Unreal Engine on artificial intelligence development, using tools to build game assets, and updating its End User License Agreement to allow future training on engine output. [1][4][6]

Epic Games was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991 and is based in Cary, North Carolina. The company developed Unreal Engine, a portable C++ computer graphics engine first used in the 1998 shooter Unreal. Unreal Engine uses a freemium model that is free to access alongside a five percent royalty fee on qualifying commercial revenue. [7][8][9]