Vampire Survivors Dev 'Reconsidering' Fortnite Crossover After Epic Details Unreal Engine 6 AI Plans

Vampire Survivors developer Poncle appears to be having second thoughts about a lucrative Fortnite crossover after Epic Games confirmed it now uses generative AI tools in the battle royale's art and design process. A recent behind-the-scenes video from Epic showed how the company uses generative AI prompts to adjust hand-drawn designs for Fortnite character skins and concept art assets. The AI was used to turn sketches into more detailed designs or experiment with alternative versions, like converting a daylight scene to nighttime. However, the video also showed AI introducing errors or unwanted additions that required manual correction—something Fortnite players previously suspected had led to odd-looking assets in the live game.

Epic continued its focus on generative AI during yesterday's State of Unreal livestream, where it previewed upcoming Unreal Engine 6 capabilities. The company demonstrated how the updated engine will broadly incorporate generative AI tools to iterate and build upon 3D environments. "For UE6, we see LLMs, generative AI models, and tools like Claude and Codex playing a central role in helping you build content faster while maintaining the creative control you need," wrote Unreal Engine development lead Marcus Wassmer in a blog post.

This news appears to have dampened Poncle's enthusiasm for appearing in Fortnite as part of Epic's plan to feature crossovers with titles available on the Epic Game Store. "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," Poncle wrote in a Reddit post (via iFireMonkey). "We'll let you know if anything moves forward."

Poncle's message has drawn praise from Vampire Survivors fans, who have urged the indie roguelike shooter to distance itself from Epic. However, Fortnite has publicly featured AI generation for some time, such as its chatty Darth Vader recreation that could reply to players with James Earl Jones' voice. Epic's open discussion of AI usage has received a mixed reaction online, with many criticizing the company's embrace of generative AI tools following devastating staff cuts that laid off around 1,000 employees. Others suggest Epic is simply acknowledging the reality of changing game development amid growing AI use across the industry.