Press releaseFor release from [date, YYYY-MM-DD] – draft

Several islands, dozens of missions: playing.company plans an “Epic” scope for open-world games

A wizard instead of programming: 2 to 3 islands with their own cities, 40–80 missions, vehicles and ferries – violence-free and playable in the browser.

[City], [Date] – playing.company is adding an “Epic” scope to its game maker: anyone who wants an open-world game on a scale familiar from early 3D open-world titles – several islands, one continuous main story, dozens of missions – describes the idea in the wizard, sees the total price in credits and lets Anthropic’s Claude build the game. “Epic” is part of the planned beta, which is due to start in German-speaking countries on December 8, 2026.

An Epic game has 2 to 3 islands, each with its own city, its own layout and several districts. On top come 40–80 missions with a main story that runs across all islands plus side jobs, characters with dialogue, vehicles and collectibles. Islands unlock one after another and are reached through a ferry terminal; the crossing is a scene change, not a boat ride. Money and vehicle travel along, while missions and collectibles are saved per island. The aim is 10–25 hours of play.

It is built like any other game in the wizard: choose Open World 3D, set the scope to “Epic”, pick a style and extras, describe the idea. The build runs in stages – first a plan for the archipelago, islands, districts and characters, then the main chain and side jobs for each island, and finally an overall check – and is meant to take about 8–12 minutes. The list price is 5,000 credits, the same as the largest credit pack (5,000 credits for €169). The total price in credits is shown before you confirm and can differ from the list price when demand is high; if the build fails, the credits are returned. Epic requires the Studio plan, with at most 2 Epic projects per billing month.

The team is explicit about what “Epic” is not: no console or studio-grade graphics, but data-driven low-poly 3D that runs straight in the browser. The scale refers to islands and missions, not to looks. Like all world projects, Epic is violence-free: no weapons, no violence against people or animals, invented names, no brands. The reason is youth protection – accounts start at age 16 and the content is meant for audiences aged 12 and up.

On status: “Epic” is part of the planned beta (start in German-speaking countries on December 8, 2026, international launch planned for January 12, 2027). Build time, play time and scope are target values that will be checked and, where needed, adjusted after the first live builds. Every game is labelled as AI-generated, visibly and in machine-readable form (EU AI Act, Article 50); the game description is structured data, and the runtime does not execute third-party code.

[Zitat Markus – zur Freigabe]

Suggested: “We wanted to find out how big a game can get when someone without programming skills describes it in a wizard. Epic is our answer – with honest limits: the scope is large, the graphics deliberately simple.”

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