Since 2019 Epic Games (well known as the creators of Unreal Engine & Fortnite) has run the Epic MegaGrants program, a $100 million fund to financially support projects built with Unreal Engine. In 2021 the program awarded grants to 31 XR projects.

Epic recently recapped the complete list of MegaGrant recipients in 2021, comprising a whopping 390 individual projects, each of which received a grant from the program of up to $500,000

By our count, 31 one of those were built with XR in mind. The projects range widely from games to simulation to education and more. Here’s a few that caught our eye, along with the complete list or XR recipients further below.

BRUNNER Elektronik – Unreal Engine Integration for NOVASIM Flight Simulator

HumanCodeable – Advanced VR Framework

Tribe XR – DJ in VR

VRSpeaking LLC. – Ovation

All Epic MegaGrant XR Recipients in 2021

  1. 6th Sense VR – Ayatana Concept (France)
  2. ​​ALO VR – VigourVR (Singapore)
  3. Art Reality Studio – IVR 6 (United States)
  4. BRUNNER Elektronik AG – Unreal Engine Integration for BRUNNER NOVASIM VR/MR (Switzerland)
  5. b.ReX GmbH – Intelligent Cycling
  6. Byker Biotech Pty Ltd – VR Lab for 3D human specimens (China)
  7. Dmitro Tsalko – EnergoVR (Ukraine)
  8. Eternal Monke Games – Dragon.IK – Universal Inverse Kinematics Plugin
  9. HumanCodeable – Advanced VR Framework (Germany)
  10. IMP – Interactive Media Production – VR Fire Safety Simulator
  11. Lightscape VR (Germany)
  12. North Carolina State University (NCSU) – transVRse (United States)
  13. ONMOTIO – Immersive Technical Training in Inhospitable or Dangerous Zones Using VR (Canada)
  14. Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) – DataDiVR Interactive Data Analytics Platform (Austria)
  15. Tribe XR – DJ in VR (United States)
  16. University of North Carolina at Asheville – Interfacing Unreal with Physical Computing & New Media VR Pedagogy (United States)
  17. Vantari VR – Critical Care Procedural Training Suite (Australia)
  18. VRSpeaking LLC. – Ovation (United States)
  19. Western University – Using AR/VR to Improve Pediatric Surgical Patient’s Hospital Experience (Canada)
  20. Raytracer PTY Ltd. – Underwater Virtual Reality Simulation for Astronaut Training (Australia)
  21. Universitat Pompeu Fabra – Mixed Reality in Fetal Intervention Using Unreal Engine (Spain)
  22. VYV Corporation – Photon Augmented Reality Studio (Canada)
  23. Lemay – AR Workflow from Revit to Reality (Canada)
  24. New Reality Co. – Rainforest: A Multiplayer AR Experience (United States)
  25. Oakland University – Augmented Reality Center (ARC) for Industrial Applications (United States)
  26. Marquette University – Immersive and Augmented Media Design Fellowship (United States)
  27. Brainstorm Multimedia S.L. – EDISON – Unreal Template Based AR Solution for Education (Spain)
  28. Createxion – Draw-It AR (India)
  29. University of Michigan – AR System for Lunar EVAs (United States)
  30. Visometry GmbH – HQ-CAD-AR on a Driving Car (Germany)
  31. RealityArts Studio / Velarion – The Stranger (Turkey)

Epic says that MegaGrants awards are not investments or loans, and recipients can use the money to do “whatever will make their project successful,” with no oversight from the company. Similarly, recipients retain full rights to their IP and can choose to publish their projects however they want.  If you’re working on something related to Unreal Engine, you can apply for consideration too!

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • guest

    So does one’s app have to be internet dependent to run? Does the internet always up and running to use this game engine?

    • xyzs

      Absolutely not.
      Where do you get that fake news from ?

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      • Rosko

        The internet.

        • kontis

          Then stop reading the crap you are reading.

        • guest

          haha! I read on the internet that if you didn’t get any of their free-money that you were an EPIC FAILURE

  • Ad

    These are underwhelming but I guess they probably didn’t get that much.

    • Sven Viking

      Not of interest to me but some of the medical/training apps could be useful for the world generally if they’re any good, and maybe some of the plugins will be of use for other games.

      • Ad

        I’m pretty skeptical but I guess we’ll see.

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