Epic Games has confirmed that it is using AI to develop code and features for Unreal Engine, and has implemented related tools for stability monitoring and issue resolution in the PC version of Fortnite. Compared to last year, when AI development tools were not yet adopted, Epic's internal development strategy has now shifted.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated that the company is undergoing a major shift focused on "maximizing the acceleration of AI adoption." He clarified that this move is not about doing the same work with fewer people, but rather enabling employees and teams using Unreal Engine to create more and better content.
Marcus Wassmer, Head of Unreal Engine Development, revealed that the team is studying the actual effectiveness of code generation methods. In addition to writing code, AI is being used to eliminate non-deterministic baking errors, accelerate shader compression, and maintain and streamline the engine's massive, complex, and historically accumulated codebase.
Fortnite on PC has deployed automated stability monitoring. This system can detect issues arising from specific driver and hardware combinations interacting with game features, assisting in root cause analysis and generating fixes. Problems that previously might have taken months to diagnose can now be addressed using these tools. Wassmer stated that these measures have begun to improve long-standing, tricky PC issues in both Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Epic recently showcased a preview version of the new Epic Games Launcher, which also employs so-called "vibe coding." Charts provided by the company claim that the new launcher's cold start is 46% faster than Steam's, and restoration from the system tray is 14% faster. Epic previously stated that the next version of Unreal Engine will unify the Unreal Editor for both Unreal Engine 5 and Fortnite. Currently, AI has entered practical stages of Epic's engine code development, performance optimization, and stability maintenance.