mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Solving Continuous Mean Field Games: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Non-Stationary Dynamics

arXiv 2510.22158 ↗First posted 25 Oct 2025cs.LG cs.AI cs.MAcited by 2

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Abstract (arXiv)

Mean field games (MFGs) have emerged as a powerful framework for modeling interactions in large-scale multi-agent systems. Despite recent advancements in reinforcement learning (RL) for MFGs, existing methods are typically limited to finite spaces or stationary models, hindering their applicability to real-world problems. This paper introduces a novel deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm specifically designed for non-stationary continuous MFGs. The proposed approach builds upon a Fictitious Play (FP) methodology, leveraging DRL for best-response computation and supervised learning for average policy representation. Furthermore, it learns a representation of the time-dependent population distribution using a Conditional Normalizing Flow. To validate the effectiveness of our method, we evaluate it on three different examples of increasing complexity. By addressing critical limitations in scalability and density approximation, this work represents a significant advancement in applying DRL techniques to complex MFG problems, bringing the field closer to real-world multi-agent systems.

Key facts. Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 31 of its 52 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 25 Oct 2025.

Builds on

31 of 52 references.

References · 31

  1. 2015Variational Inference with Normalizing Flowscited by 2,161
  2. 2017Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithmcited by 723
  3. 2019Neural Spline Flowscited by 590
  4. 2019The StarCraft Multi-Agent Challengecited by 589
  5. 2019Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: A Selective Overview of Theories and Algorithmscited by 555
  6. 2019Learning Likelihoods with Conditional Normalizing Flowscited by 170
  7. 2016Deep Reinforcement Learning from Self-Play in Imperfect-Information Gamescited by 153
  8. 2022Mastering the Game of Stratego with Model-Free Multiagent Reinforcement Learningcited by 129
  9. 2021Approximately Solving Mean Field Games via Entropy-Regularized Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 65
  10. 2020Fictitious Play for Mean Field Games: Continuous Time Analysis and Applicationscited by 57
  11. 2022Learning in Mean Field Games: A Surveycited by 56
  12. 2021Concave Utility Reinforcement Learning: the Mean-Field Game Viewpointcited by 54
19 more
  1. 2019On the Convergence of Model Free Learning in Mean Field Gamescited by 45
  2. 2020Unified Reinforcement Q-Learning for Mean Field Game and Control Problemscited by 42
  3. 2021Deep Multiagent Reinforcement Learning: Challenges and Directionscited by 42
  4. 2015Learning in Mean Field Games: the Fictitious Playcited by 37
  5. 2022Scalable Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Mean Field Gamescited by 33
  6. 2021Mean Field Games Flock! The Reinforcement Learning Waycited by 30
  7. 2020A General Framework for Learning Mean-Field Gamescited by 24
  8. 2022Policy Mirror Ascent for Efficient and Independent Learning in Mean Field Gamescited by 24
  9. 2016Mean Field Game of Controls and An Application To Trade Crowdingcited by 22
  10. 2020Mean Field Games and Applications: Numerical Aspectscited by 22
  11. 2023Recent Developments in Machine Learning Methods for Stochastic Control and Gamescited by 19
  12. 2019Actor-Critic Provably Finds Nash Equilibria of Linear-Quadratic Mean-Field Gamescited by 15
  13. 2016Mean-Field-Type Games in Engineeringcited by 11
  14. 2013Mean-Field Optimal Controlcited by 9
  15. 2020Reinforcement Learning in Non-Stationary Discrete-Time Linear-Quadratic Mean-Field Gamescited by 8
  16. 2023Deep Reinforcement Learning for Infinite Horizon Mean Field Problems in Continuous Spacescited by 6
  17. 2013Efficiency of the Price Formation Process in Presence of High Frequency Participants: a Mean Field Game analysiscited by 5
  18. 2025Finite-Sample Convergence Bounds for Trust Region Policy Optimization in Mean-Field Gamescited by 2
  19. 2019Energy Efficient Optimization of Wireless-powered 5G Full Duplex Cellular Networks: A Mean Field Game Approachcited by 1

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Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 1.

2 papers.