Skip to main content

AI Darth Vader Was the Beginning: Epic Reveals Plans to Let People Create Their Own AI NPCs in Fortnite

Following the release of AI Darth Vader into Fortnite, Epic has announced plans to let people create their own AI NPCs in the all-encompassing battle royale.

AI Darth Vader hit Fortnite last month. He can serenade you, join and leave squads at will, respond intelligently to the player, issue impromptu dialogue, summarize gameplay events, and warn the player if something's about to go down.

Darth Vader is voiced by the inimitable James Earl Jones, who died in September 2024 at the age of 93. This AI version of his voice, powered by Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5, is used with the Jones family's permission.

Within an hour of the feature going live, Fortnite players manipulated Vader into saying the kind of things very much associated with the Dark Side, including swearing. Epic soon patched it out.

AI Darth Vader, it seems, was just the beginning. During State of Unreal 2025, Epic unveiled plans to release new tools for creators to build their own AI-powered NPCs in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). As demonstrated on-stage, creators will be able to use the new Persona Device to create characters with personalities that players can talk to. You can select the type of voice and delivery you want for your NPC, as well as their characteristics.

“We’re taking what we learned from Darth Vader and sharing the underlying technology with the creator community,” Epic said.

Meanwhile, well-known IP is coming to UEFN, including Squid Game on June 27, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and official Star Wars features, templates, and assets. Lego brick-by-brick building is also coming to UEFN on June 17, as well as the new LEGO Bloom Tycoon template.

Elsewhere at State of Unreal 2025, Epic and CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 tech demo.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Labels:
Location: AI Darth Vader Was the Beginning: Epic Reveals Plans to Let People Create Their Own AI NPCs in Fortnite

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Watch the 2025 Warhammer Skulls Showcase

Summer is fast approaching, which means it’s time for Warhammer Skulls. The ultimate showcase of Warhammer video games is back for its ninth year, hosted for the third time by actor and superfan Rahul Kohli. There will be world premieres, exclusive reveals, and update announcements, and you can watch it all live. Showcase Date, Time, and Where to Watch The festivities will begin on May 22 at 5:00 p.m. BST, which means 12:00 p.m. Eastern / 11: 00 a.m. Central / 9:00 a.m. Pacific. You can see times for other regions in the graphic at the bottom of this page. IGN will livestream the full event, which will be around 50 minutes long. You can tune in on any of these channels: IGN.com (our homepage) IGN’s Facebook IGN’s Twitter IGN’s Twitch IGN’s YouTube If you’re not able to watch the showcase live, no worries. We’ll post the whole event on YouTube after it’s finished, like we did for last year’s show . What to Expect from This Year’s Showcase As usual, this year’s showcase will feature exc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gym Star Simulator Codes (June 2025)

Last updated on June 12, 2025: Checked for new Gym Star Simulator codes! Looking for ways to boost your workouts in Gym Star Simulator? Our list of codes is here to help you out. You'll find all the currently active Gym Star Simulator codes down below. Redeem them for rewards including Spins, Protein Bars, Energy Drinks, and more to help you get your gains. Active Gym Star Simulator Codes (June 2025) Below you'll find all of the Gym Star Simulator codes that are currently active in May 2025: LEGDAY - 4X Squat Fox (NEW) BUNNY - 18x Bodybuilding Bunny OLYMPIA - 3x Essential Oils NEW - 1 Spin STRENGTH - 2x Protein Bars SORRY - 2 Spins STAMINA - 2x Energy Drink 50M - 2 Spins RICH - 2x Essential Oils FRIENDTRAINER - 500x Enchant Crystal CRYSTAL - 2000x Enchant Crystal STALCRY - 5000x Enchant Crystal NEWWORLD - 5000x Fang Halloween - 500x Coins Superhero - 1000x Fang Shell - 1000x Fang All the codes above have been tested as working at the time of submission. However, codes wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy Creators on Choosing the Right Characters for the Cards | IGN Live 2025

Having already out pre-orders of many packs and bundles already, the Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy cards officially will be released June 13 and Principal Designer Gavin Verhey and Executive Producer Zakeel Gordon were on hand at IGN Live today to discuss the much-anticipated collaboration. Verhey and Gordon said that there have been other IP crossovers with Magic before, Final Fantasy was particularly exciting because, as Verhey put it, “It’s Final Fantasy! That really helps! We’ve been working on this set for about five years.” The duo noted everyone at Wizards of the Coast were big fans of Final Fantasy, noting most had been playing the games longer than they’d played Magic and means so much to them. Verhery said their approach was to incorporate something from all 15 games – which upped to 16 as they were working on the cards – which began with making spreadsheets of all the characters, items and story modes. They then split up the possible inclusions into three tiers - what...
Post a Comment
Read more