Epic Games has announced the Epic AI MegaJam, a game jam built around AI agents that runs from November 12 to 15, according to its event pages on the Unreal Engine site and itch.io. The theme will be revealed at a kickoff on November 11.
Teams of up to five people, with any number of agents, must build a playable game in Unreal Engine or UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite).
The prize pool includes $65,000 in cash. The Unreal Engine and UEFN tracks each also have Development Continuation Grants of $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000.
Teams can join online, through local chapters, or in person at Digital Jungle in San Francisco on November 14 and 15, where teams from Anthropic, Google, Meshy, OpenAI and others will also take part. Epic recommends using Unreal MCP.
Optional modifiers add side goals. "Glass Box" rewards the best dev log, and "Walkie-Talkie" rewards LLM-driven NPCs in UEFN.
The launch did not go smoothly. PC Gamer reported that Epic first described AI use as required, then said it was optional after a backlash.
Part of that criticism targeted promotional art showing a six-fingered hand. A promo comic drew mockery on X on October 27 for the same flaw.
The jam is part of a wider AI push at Epic. On October 12, CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on X that the company has "a huge pivot underway," moving developers around "to retool for maximum AI acceleration," as Khaleej Times and others reported.
Why it matters: Epic is now formally rewarding agent-driven game development, and its grants could fund the strongest projects after the jam ends. Because the event runs in public, with dev logs and named AI labs taking part, it could become one of the clearest tests yet of what a small team with agents can build in a few days. It also arrives as Steam Next Fest shows how divided players are on AI.
What's next: the theme goes live at the November 11 kickoff, and Epic says winners will be announced by January 29, 2027.
