Overwolf, an all-in-one modding platform, said it has paid $201 million to in-game creators in 2023, a 25% increase over the previous year.
The company has paid that money to mod creators, private server owners and in-game app creators. In 2022, Overwolf paid over $160 million to in-game creators. Back in 2021, only $29 million was paid out.
With over 165,000 creators and 41 million monthly active users, Overwolf leads an in-game user-generated content (UGC) ecosystem that provides the creation tools and resources required to make unique gaming experiences for top triple-A titles.
Overwolf believes that UGC is key to extending the longevity and engagement of games and supports both sides of the marketplace — individual in-game creators and professional studios. The company has partnered with leading triple-A studios to unleash the community’s creativity through new gaming experiences including The Sims 4 developer Maxis and Ark: Survival Ascended creator Studio Wildcard.
Since partnering, The Sims 4 mods have reached 474 million downloads, and Ark: Survival Ascended mods have reached over 50 million downloads.
Notably, successful creators like Arco ‘Tex’ Dielhof and Matt Hawkins have transformed in-game content creation into full-time professions.
Dielhof is pioneering enhanced UI apps that seamlessly guide players across maps for acclaimed games like Diablo IV and Baldur’s Gate 3. Meanwhile, Matt Hawkins, the CEO of Tracker Network, has achieved remarkable scalability with 10 million registered users for the leading stats websites and in-game apps developed by his company for various top games.
“At Overwolf, we empower players, developers, and creators to make the best games even better through UGC. Our north star is to pay in-game creators $1 billion by 2030, and in 2023 alone, Overwolf has paid out $201 million to talented and passionate in-game creators, while also making it possible for game studios to build on top of existing games like ARK: Survival Ascended to diversify revenue streams,” said Overwolf CEO, Uri Marchand, in a statement. “In 2023, we saw Roblox and UEFN attract professional studios to build on their platforms and I believe in the next year we will see a similar trend emerge through the modding of popular games by professional studios and not only individual creators.”
Overwolf describes itself as the guild for in-game creators. It supports over 1,500 games. Based in Tel Aviv, Overwolf has raised over $150 million to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Griffin Gaming Partners, Insight Partners, and others.
CurseForge, a division of Overwolf, is the world’s largest repository of mods and addons for video games. CurseForge enables mod authors and gamers to discover, share, and safely and seamlessly enhance their gaming experience. With over 50B mod downloads, CurseForge supports mods across multiple triple-A titles, including Minecraft, World of Warcraft, and The Sims 4.
The guild for in-game creators aims to pay out $1 billion to mod authors, private server owners, and in-game app creators by 2030.
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