Epic Games Lets AI Do the Heavy Lifting, Builds Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview in Just 7 Days

Artificial intelligence is changing how video games are made, and developers are finding new ways to let AI handle the heavy lifting. Remember when building your own game meant spending countless hours writing code and fixing bugs? Those days might be numbered as gaming industry innovations make creating games faster and more accessible. Now, Epic Games is showing just how far this technology can go, and the results are pretty impressive.

Built in one week

Epic Games has released its Unreal Engine 5.9 MegaJam Preview, an experimental version built mostly by AI agents in just one week. Instead of having programmers do everything themselves, a small team directed several AI agents to tackle different jobs simultaneously.

Their mission? Bring tools from Unreal Engine 6 into the current engine and make it possible to play Unreal games directly in web browsers. Interestingly, the browser feature builds on technology Epic previously dropped after Unreal Engine 4.

Of course, humans weren’t completely out of the picture. Engineers still checked the code, tested features and made sure the AI wasn’t going completely off-script. Epic believes this approach could speed up future updates and bug fixes while keeping Unreal Engine 6 development on track.

AI joins the editor

Ever wished you could simply tell your game engine what to do instead of figuring everything out yourself? Unreal Assistant is bringing that idea closer to reality by letting developers use Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor and OpenCode directly inside Unreal Editor.

Even better, developers can connect their existing AI accounts without signing up for another service. Once connected, these assistants can help build levels, track down bugs, test gameplay and improve how games run.

Need characters, environments or other ready-made assets? AI agents can also search Epic’s Fab marketplace and add them to projects. For gaming fans dreaming of making their own titles, that’s an exciting addition to game development.

More creative possibilities

Programming isn’t getting all the love, either. Unreal Canvas lets creators generate concept art, images, 3D models and videos simply by describing what they want or providing reference images.

Additional tools make it easier to automate repetitive tasks involving sound, visual effects and other game features. Meanwhile, Epic is experimenting with letting Unreal games run in web browsers, although the feature still has limitations.

These improvements could influence future gaming trends, especially among smaller studios with limited resources. Don’t expect the top upcoming video game releases to suddenly look different, though. Much of this technology remains experimental, but its potential for game development is hard to ignore.

Exciting but unfinished

Before anyone gets too excited, there’s a catch. Epic admits this preview received less testing than usual, meaning crashes, unfinished features and other headaches are possible. Trying it with a backup project is the safer move, especially since some AI tools require additional setup.

Meanwhile, the Epic AI MegaJam runs from November 12 to 15, allowing teams of up to five people to create games with as many AI agents as they want. Standout entries could receive grants worth up to $50,000.