Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggests AI could have kept Destiny alive by solving its content cost problem

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has implied that AI-generated content could have made Destiny commercially viable, responding to a report on Bungie's failed live service shooter with a pointed suggestion that "some sort of newfangled technology" could have overcome the game's core financial problem.

The details:

• Sweeney replied to a Forbes report on Destiny 2's decline on X, writing: "If only some sort of newfangled technology could come along and make it possible to overcome bullet point #1 and enable games like Destiny to thrive!" alongside a screenshot of the article
• The Forbes report identified two reasons for Destiny's failure: firstly, the game "was only very rarely profitable during its entire lifespan" due to "the enormous scale of content that had to be produced nonstop, lest fans revolt against its scarcity," and secondly that any periods of profitability saw cash "immediately misused by leadership at the time"
• Sweeney did not address the second point about leadership misuse, focusing solely on the content production cost problem as the one AI could theoretically solve
• The implication that AI could generate the volume of content Destiny required at a lower cost drew criticism, with many pointing out that the game's issues extended well beyond production costs
• Sweeney has been a vocal advocate for AI in game development: he recently described it as "really irresponsible" for Steam to require developers to disclose AI use, and in June announced that Unreal Engine 6 will integrate AI tools to "greatly reduce the tedious work" in game development