Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has intensified his criticism of Valve's Steam AI content disclosure policy, calling it a political act comparable to forced political affiliation disclosure. The dispute comes as Epic pivots toward AI-assisted development with a new AI-created launcher and upcoming AI MegaJam event.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has renewed his criticism of Valve's mandatory AI disclosures on Steam, calling them politically partisan and economically harmful to developers. The debate coincides with Epic's own shifting stance on AI development while Steam continues to dominate game releases with over 18,000 titles in 2024.
Epic Games has announced the Epic AI MegaJam, a three-day game development competition running November 12–15 with a $50,000 prize pool that explicitly encourages AI tool usage in Unreal Engine and UEFN. Critics argue the tight timeline makes it nearly impossible for all-human teams to compete, calling the event another provocative push toward AI-first development from a company that recently bragged its store launcher was "vibe coded" because programming is hard.
The European Union, led by the Italian Competition Authority, has launched enforcement actions against ten major gaming companies including Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Riot Games over predatory virtual currency practices. The investigation targets misaligned currency bundles, dark patterns, and inadequate parental controls that leave players with unspendable remainders. Epic Games has already moved to allow exact V-Bucks purchases on most platforms ahead of the crackdown.
Disney president and CCO Dana Walden has shut down speculation that the company plans to acquire Epic Games outright, stating that "those are not the conversations we are having right now." The comments came at Bloomberg's Screentime event last week, where Walden emphasized that both companies are currently focused on launching collaborative experiences to prove the value of their existing partnership.
Fortnite's annual Fortnitemares Halloween event launches October 1 with a highly anticipated Five Nights at Freddy's crossover featuring Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria as a new POI. The announcement became Fortnite's most-liked post ever on X, reaching 100,000 likes within an hour. Players can expect animatronic encounters, body-snatching mechanics, and FNAF skins in the Item Shop when Chapter 7 Season 4's third update goes live.
Mastery Monday returns to Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 on Monday, September 7 at 9 a.m. EDT, running for a full 24 hours. During the event, players can level up sprites twice as fast and earn double sprite dust from all sources. The article breaks down start times across seven major time zones so players worldwide know exactly when to log in.
Epic Games confirmed the Gaming Legends season for Fortnite launches August 20th, bringing Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow, Knuckles, and Doctor Eggman into the battle royale with fully rendered firearms. The update also adds skins from Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Mega Man, Mortal Kombat, Tetris, Pac-Man, and Jazz Jackrabbit alongside a tie-in comic featuring the Sonic cast.
Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit launches August 16 as a free Fortnite experience that connects directly to Disney's Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride through MyDisney account linking. The PvE multiplayer game features three classes mirroring the ride's roles, five mission types, and Hondo Ohnaka voiced by Jim Cummings anchoring the hub world on Ord Ryla.
Fortnite's final Chapter 7 Season 3 update dropped last Thursday with patch v41.30, bringing back The Simpsons and John Wick while unvaulting Spider-Man's Web-Shooters. Dataminers uncovered encrypted posters featuring Pac-Man, Sonic, Persona, and other gaming icons, suggesting Chapter 7 Season 4 will be a Gaming Legends crossover. Players can already hear the Pac-Man intro track at a stone structure in northeastern Wonkeeland ahead of an Aug. 15 story event.
