Epic Games’ AI MegaJam 2026 Will Let Devs Vibe-Code Games for a $65,000 Cash Prize

Epic Games is going full throttle on AI. After launching the new vibe-coded Epic Games launcher earlier this October, the company is now hosting AI MegaJam 2026, a four-day game development contest from November 12, 2026, to November 15, where teams of up to five people can use unlimited AI agents to build games with Unreal Engine or UEFN.

According to the AI MegaJam’s itch.io page, the event will reward participants with up to $65,000 in cash prizes, along with development grants and sponsor prizes. Attendees can participate either online or in person at Digital Jungle in San Francisco, where they will vibe-code a new game with teams from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and more.

Players are encouraged to integrate AI tools into their workflow, from asset generation to coding agents. The official Epic Games AI MegaJam itch.io page includes the following categories and prizes:

• Main Categories:
  • Best Overall, Unreal Engine: $7,500 for first place, $5,000 for second place, and $2,500 for third place
  • Best Overall, UEFN: $7,500 for first place, $5,000 for second place, and $2,500 for third place
  • Best Student Project (Unreal Engine or UEFN): $7,500 for first place, $5,000 for second place, and $2,500 for third place
• Modifier Categories:
  • Best Team: Best overall team – $5,000
  • Solo Driver: Best game built by a solo developer – $2,500
  • Render Royalty: Best overall visuals, photorealistic or stylized – $2,500
  • Pocket Powerhouse: Best mobile game, with one Unreal Engine and one UEFN winner – $2,500 each
  • Glass Box: Best dev log showing how you built your game – $2,500
  • Walkie-Talkie: Best narrative-driven UEFN game featuring LLM-powered NPCs and characters built with conversations – $2,500

Epic has also confirmed that standout UEFN or Unreal Engine projects at AI MegaJam 2026 will receive development continuation grants of up to $50,000 to build the game after the event ends.

With Epic Games shifting to AI-first development and planning deeper AI integration in Unreal Engine 6, the AI MegaJam likely marks the beginning of a broader effort to make AI tools a bigger part of game creation. That said, will you participate? Let us know!