Fortnite may lose out on an upcoming collab with a popular indie game due to Epic Games’ policies on AI use. The battle royale game is still going strong nine years after launch. New game modes consistently pop up on its home page, while collaborations with all sorts of major IPs are constantly rotating in and out.
One such collab, however, is reconsidering things after Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games publicly embraced the use of generative AI. In a series of videos posted to YouTube last week, the studio showed developers using AI tools to generate assets for Unreal Engine 6 games, provoking immediate backlash.
Vampire Survivors (and spinoff Vampire Crawlers) dev Poncle had announced a collab with Fortnite just shortly before the behind-the-scenes videos came out. However, in a post on Reddit, a spokesperson for Poncle claimed that the crossover was now in jeopardy based on Epic’s AI evangelization (spotted by Push Square):
“Following today’s news about gen AI usage by Epic to create all sorts of game assets, including Fortnite characters, we’re currently ‘reviewing’ our collaboration with Fortnite. We’ll let you know if anything moves forward.”
In the video (seen below), Epic Games artists show off their process from ideation to completed concept art. They use AI tools at several points along the way, generating additional detail for character designs or rapidly swapping color palettes.
This includes the implication that AI tools could be used in designing Fortnite characters, like the ones slated for the Vampire Survivors crossover. That was likely a bridge too far for Poncle, a studio that, when it decided to launch its own publishing arm, declared that it would instantly reject any games developed with AI (per GamesIndustry.biz).
This news comes at a time when AI tools are encroaching further into game development, and causing all sorts of controversies: there was NVIDIA’s big, splashy reveal of DLSS5, its uncanny valley AI rendering technology; games like Arc Raiders and Crimson Desert have met with backlash for using AI-generated voice lines or art; and rumors of AI use at Ubisoft have soured players on the already-struggling Far Cry 7.
Meanwhile, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has frequently praised the use of AI in game development via X (formerly Twitter). In November, he called for competitor Steam to relax its requirement for games to disclose their use of AI, saying, “It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production.”
While gaming executives (and some developers) full-throatedly embrace this technology, many players have rejected the use of AI in games. The comments on Epic’s behind-the-scenes video are full of players critiquing its AI use, calling it out for hallucinating details and creating more work for artists, or offering to help out by sharing Blender tutorials.
“Hope this was worth firing thousands of employees,” commented whatgoat_, referencing widespread layoffs at Epic back in March. Sweeney noted in a statement that the layoffs weren’t related to AI, but to saving costs and keeping the company financially stable.
It feels a bit poetic for Poncle, which started out as a solo dev working on a passion project they believed in and grew to a publisher big enough to celebrate the work of similarly passionate artists, to take a stand against one of the biggest names in the video game space pumping out AI slop. While the Vampire Survivors — Fortnite collab isn’t totally dead in the water, here’s hoping the risk of missing out causes Epic to reconsider.
- Released
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September 26, 2017
- ESRB
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T for Teen – Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5