Today's rundown for animation, game design, motion graphics, VFX, and virtual production. ## Updates **Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview shipped — and Epic says it's the first engine release built primarily by AI agents.** The "MegaJam Preview," released November 9 for the Epic AI MegaJam (November 12–15), had only about a week of development: Epic directed "fleets of agents" to port AI tooling from the UE6 branch and implement Web as a target platform, with agents writing the web platform code starting from UE4's retired HTML5 platform, and engineers directing, reviewing, and testing ([Epic Developer Forums](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/unreal-engine-5-9-megajam-preview/2852840)). It ships significant improvements to Python scripting and Unreal MCP, plus a new experimental Unreal Canvas for combining development with agentic workflows, AI-assisted workflow and machine-learning improvements, and web builds powered by WebAssembly and WebGPU ([Epic documentation](https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/unreal-engine-5-9-release-notes?lang=ja), [Maverick Frame](https://maverickframe.com/blog/unreal-engine-latest-version/)). Full 5.9 release is planned for 2027. Whether you're excited or alarmed, this is a watershed: the leading game engine is now shipping releases made mostly by agents. **Disney partnered with Adobe on AI tools that turn artists' sketches into finished concept art.** The alliance — reportedly built on Adobe Firefly's brand-safe, commercially clear models — stands in stark contrast to Disney's ongoing layoffs and cost-cutting ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business), [Assay Notes](https://news.assaynotes.com/en/all?tag=%E5%9B%BE%E5%83%8F%E7%94%9F%E6%88%90)). The clearest signal yet of where studio concept art workflows are heading. **Three more studio closures and layoff rounds in games.** Bandai Namco is closing Unknown 9 developer Reflector Entertainment and expects a €21 million Q3 loss as a result; Skydance announced layoffs to its games division following the $111 billion merger; and Tripwire Interactive laid off 36 in its second round this year ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/feed)). Meanwhile, Take-Two's Q2 net bookings fell 18% to $1.6 billion as NBA 2K27 missed forecasts — but GTA 6 pre-orders are "tracking far in excess" of expectations, with CEO Strauss Zelnick reiterating the full-year outlook ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/)). **James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping down as DC Studios chiefs** amid Paramount's post-merger restructuring, with Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham taking over; Gunn says he is "incredibly relieved" to return to filmmaking ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/studios)). **An AI account ripped off the award-winning 2008 short El Empleo to sell $49-a-month "filmmaking" classes.** The 30-second AI knockoff drew over five million views in under 24 hours before being removed after co-creator Patricio Plaza objected — the sharpest example yet of AI plagiarism being used as a marketing funnel ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artificial-intelligence/el-empleo-unauthorized-ai-remake-269233.html)). **A candid account of AI in a real VFX pipeline.** VFXwire published an interview with Caine Dickinson on how AI was integrated into Young Washington — including where it helped and where it hindered the workflow ([VFXwire](https://vfxwire.com/)). Useful, honest material for the AI-in-pipeline debate. **Box office: The Cat in the Hat beat predictions but opened below its Seuss predecessors**, while Laika's Wildwood held strong in week three ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/)). ## Wider context **Foundry is bringing Nuke Stage to macOS, with $499 education licenses.** The virtual production software gains ProRes support plus genlock and synchronization across multiple Mac render nodes and iPhones, with early access expected in 2027 — and the student bundle includes a compositing license with a render node ([VP Land](https://www.vp-land.com/)). A meaningful affordability shift for teaching VP/compositing on Mac labs. **AI video tools keep compounding**: Lightricks released open weights for LTX-2.5 so studios can train LoRAs on their own characters, settings, and styles (free under $10M revenue); Google released Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash in Flow with 15-second continuous shots and per-second pricing; and a ComfyUI demo drives AI-generated video camera moves from a Blender 3D blockout, synced to music ([VP Land](https://www.vp-land.com/)). **House House clarified its use of AI tools in Big Walk's final development stage** after a group of 2027 IGF jurors declined to vote for games that use generative AI ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/topics/igf)) — awards bodies are now becoming AI-disclosure enforcement. And with GTA 6 nine days out, IGN examined why AI cloning won't sink its launch but could reshape game development ([IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/even-if-someone-does-get-it-running-on-pc-thats-not-going-to-be-a-good-experience-why-ai-cloning-wont-sink-gta-6s-launch-but-could-reshape-game-development)). The UE 5.9 release is the story of the week — an engine release built primarily by agents, timed for a game jam where humans direct AI teammates. If you teach Unreal, it's worth downloading the preview before the MegaJam starts Thursday. Next rundown arrives tomorrow at 8:00 AM.