The Rise of User-Generated Content in Gaming: Opportunities and Challenges

The games industry is now more than ever driven by the creativity and input of its players. The most popular games, including Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite, have become lucrative platforms by leveraging bespoke toolsets, internal distribution systems, and financial incentives to encourage players to create new items, modes, and experiences within their ecosystems. As a result, these games have become extremely profitable, prompting other games to incorporate user-generated content into their business models. However, there is a common misconception about the relationship between UGC and a game's success. In most cases, it is the game's success that leads to the creation of UGC, rather than the other way around. According to Jordan Weisman, co-founder of Harebrained Schemes, Fortnite's creative mode was built on the back of an incredibly popular game. Weisman is currently developing Adventure Forge, a platform for designing narrative games. Minecraft also followed a similar trajectory, initially becoming popular due to its survival mechanics, while Roblox has always been a creative platform first and foremost. Even when a game is successful, incorporating UGC can be a significant challenge. Taehyun Kim, game director on PUBG: Battlegrounds, notes that catching up with the likes of Epic's Fortnite is a challenge, especially since PUBG is not a pioneer in the UGC space. PUBG's UGC tools are currently in an early testing phase, aiming to allow players to design their own game modes, customize rulesets, gameplay logic, and the shape and form of the world. However, Kim is aware that mimicking Fortnite's approach may not be suitable for PUBG due to the differences in tone and mechanical emphasis between the two games. Creating a successful UGC game from scratch is even more challenging, with many failed projects in the genre. One of the biggest challenges for UGC developers is designing tools that players will use to build their experiences. Weisman points out that this can be much more expensive than designing similar tools for internal use. At the heart of this challenge is balancing the accessibility of the toolset with its power. Providing users with the right tools is only half the problem; the other half is convincing players to engage with the experiences users create. Games like PUBG and Fortnite have a huge, ready-made audience, making the investment in these tools worthwhile even if only a small portion of the user base engages with them. Smaller developers and those starting from scratch cannot rely on this, so alternative solutions are required. One option is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tools by building a game with them yourself. This is the approach taken by Manticore Games, creators of the Core game creation platform. Core released in 2021, attracting 3.5 million users during its first 18 months. However, Manticore discovered a discrepancy between people coming to Core as creators and those looking for games to play. To address this, Manticore built Out of Time, a rogue-like MMO that runs in Unreal Engine 5, but was built using the tools Manticore designed. The game was built from concept to launch-ready in two-and-a-half years, which includes a development reset 12 months in. Weisman is taking a different approach with Adventure Forge, focusing on making the act of creation simple and the distribution of games easier. The platform will have its own publishing ecosystem with a revenue share model, enabling games to be published onto the platform with 'one button press.' However, it's also designed so that any game made with it can easily be published on other platforms and devices. Not every developer with UGC tools is looking to become the next Minecraft. Tuxedo Labs, the creators of voxel-based destruction sim Teardown, is cautious about the game's UGC potential. The studio is wary of betraying the spirit of Teardown and is focused on pursuing new projects rather than dedicating itself to servicing a single game. In conclusion, creating a successful UGC platform requires a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved. It's not just about providing the right tools, but also about creating a engaging experience that players will want to participate in.