The popular hit Vampire Survivors cancels cooperation with Fortnite due to the use of generative AI

An unexpected twist after the big announcement

During its recent “State of Unreal” presentation, Epic Games announced a whole series of upcoming collaborations that should arrive in Fortnite by the end of 2026. The list included more than thirty different franchises, and among them were titles like Sonic Racing Crossworlds, Control Resonant, Phantom Blade 0 and, to the delight of many, Vampire Survivors.

The initial excitement, however, quickly died down after the company confirmed that it is using generative artificial intelligence to help when creating and designing concept art for Fortnite. That move was met with significant resistance from part of the gaming community and other developers, who express concerns about the potential reduction in the value of human labor, ethical issues related to the data on which AI models are trained, and the possibility that content generated by artificial intelligence will be of lower quality.

Reaction studio Poncle

In the wake of the revelation, the studio Poncle, behind the game Vampire Survivors, reacted by taking a stand against such practice and reconsidering its newly announced collaboration. On the game’s official subreddit, they published a statement that resonated among gamers.

“Following today’s news about Epic’s use of generative artificial intelligence to create all kinds of game assets, including Fortnite characters, we are currently ‘re-examining’ our partnership with Fortnite. We will let you know if any changes occur.”

Considering the wording, it seems that the future of the cooperation depends on how much room for maneuver there is within the contract that Poncle probably signed before the announcement itself. So far, Epic Games has not publicly responded to Poncle studio’s statement, and the fate of the collaboration remains uncertain.

Epic Games is firmly behind artificial intelligence

This move by Poncle comes at a time of heightened debate within the gaming industry about the ethics and application of generative artificial intelligence. Epic Games has become one of the most vocal proponents of this technology, claiming that it serves as a “creativity and productivity multiplier” that allows teams to focus on key creative tasks.

They recently released a video showing how their artists use AI tools to rapidly develop character concepts and environments for Fortnite. They also announced that the upcoming Unreal Engine 6 will be designed with artificial intelligence tools. The company’s position, expressed by CEO Tim Sweeney, is that artificial intelligence will become so ubiquitous in game production that special labels “created with the help of AI” will not make sense, which is contrary to the wishes of some players who demand just such labels on skins in Fortnite.

The division in the industry is becoming more pronounced

The case of Vampire Survivors and Fortnite highlights the growing divide in the video game industry over generative artificial intelligence. While some companies, like Epic, openly accept and integrate AI into their processes, others take a more cautious or even opposing stance. For example, Capcom has stated that it will not implement AI-generated assets into its game content, but will consider using AI to “improve efficiency and increase productivity” in development. The decision that Poncle will make regarding cooperation with Fortnite could serve as an important precedent for other indie developers in their relationship with large platforms that unreservedly accept generative artificial intelligence.