Epic VP says AI code tools have stomped out decade-old ‘non-deterministic cooking bugs’ in Unreal Engine
By Epic Games has signaled a recent shift towards an AI-centric approach, focusing Unreal Engine on enabling AI development, employing GenAI to create game resources, and revising the Unreal Engine EULA in the coming future to permit AI training on its outputs. However, up to this point, the organization has not elaborated on how it will integrate AI to develop its software, including the Unreal Engine. This Week in Video Games provides a more pointed response from Epic, affirming that Unreal Engine will indeed be influenced by AI.
“As we indicated back at Unreal Fest in Chicago during presentations and discussions, we are surely applying AI to produce code and functionalities for Unreal Engine,” stated Marcus Wassmer, the Executive Vice President of Development at Epic, in reply to inquiries from This Week in Video Games. “Nearly all development currently underway is being carried out within the dev streams linked to Fortnite, UEFN [Unreal Editor for Fortnite], and UE6. There’s potential for a 5.9. If we proceed with it, it would be a comparatively modest enhancement for particular systems and will incorporate alterations developed with AI. Generally, we’re exerting our utmost efforts on UEFN and UE6.”
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Wassmer further clarified that tools such as Claude and Codex have eradicated “non-deterministic cooking bugs,” which Epic has endeavored to eliminate for ten years. AI tools, Wassmer asserts, additionally aid in the automated monitoring of PC stability in Fortnite, notifying Epic about driver/hardware combinations causing issues that would have required significantly more effort to identify manually.
“The tools are assisting us not merely in generating code and features, but in maintaining engine stability as we refine, optimize, and modernize it in ways we haven’t been able to previously, due to the size, complexity, and antiquity of the engine code.”
Epic recently asserted that it has reconstructed the Epic Game Launcher using “vibe coding,” claiming that its performance is noticeably enhanced compared to before.
