From Stay-at-Home Dad to Six-Figure Modder: Is Your Studio Ready for the UGC Gold Rush?
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August 20, 2025
How one self-taught creator, Sandy, and Overwolf's CMO, Shahar Sorek, reveal the untapped revenue and retention power of community-led game development. What if your most passionate players could become your most effective content pipeline? It’s not a hypothetical. For Sandy, a stay-at-home dad, it became a reality. Motivated by a desire to create a better gaming experience for his daughter, he taught himself the Unreal Engine, started building mods for ARK: Survival Evolved, and is now earning a six-figure salary from his creations. His story isn't just a feel-good headline; it's a playbook for the future of game development. We sat down with Sandy and Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf—the platform empowering this new wave of creators—to unpack how user-generated content (UGC) is transforming "forever games" into thriving, player-run economies
The New Influencer Isn't a Streamer—It's a Modder
Forget everything you think you know about influence. While streamers and YouTubers have dominated the conversation for years, a more powerful type of creator has been quietly building massive, loyal communities:
Sandy didn’t set out to be an influencer. He started by making furniture for his daughter to use in ARK. But his creations resonated, and he's now sitting on over 80 million downloads.
Why is this so potent? Because modders don't just talk about the game; they actively build for it. They are deeply embedded in the community, listening to what players want and creating content that fills the gaps between official DLCs and updates. As Shahar puts it, "the relationship there is much more gratifying for everyone because there's a real strong kind of emotional hook and allegiance between the creator and this community in a way that the game really can't manufacture". For studios, this is a direct line to player desires, offering authentic insights that no market research report can match.
UGC Isn't a Feature; It's Your Retention Engine
The biggest challenge for any live service game is keeping players engaged long-term. Publishers pour millions into live ops teams to pump out content, but even the best-funded studios struggle to keep pace with player consumption. This is where UGC becomes a game-changer. It transforms a game from a static product into a constantly evolving platform.
"UGC does kind of retain people," Sandy explains. "They keep coming back just because the new mods keep releasing". This creates a powerful feedback loop: creators like Sandy release new content, which brings players back, and the analytics from platforms like CurseForge show him exactly what's resonating, guiding his next project. He's not just guessing; he's making data-driven decisions based on what the community is actively playing and enjoying. The result? Games like ARK don't just survive; they thrive, becoming "forever games" with near-infinite replayability driven by the community itself.
Spicy Take 🔥
"We're going to see smaller experiences and games come out and huge tent poles come out. Anything in the middle right now is going to disappear... the $10 million, $20 million, $50 million dollars games are gone." - Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf
From Passion Project to Profession: Building the Creator Economy
For years, modding was a hobby fueled by passion. Now, platforms like Overwolf are turning it into a legitimate profession. Their goal is ambitious: to pay out a billion dollars to creators by 2030. They're getting there by providing the infrastructure—tools, analytics, and seamless monetization—that allows creators to build sustainable businesses.
It's a "win-win for everybody," says Shahar. Studios get a constant stream of fresh content that keeps their games relevant, creators get paid for their work, and players get new experiences they'd never see from the original developers. This ecosystem thrives on a simple principle: passion is the ultimate driver. The best creators, Shahar notes, are those who are "proficient and passionate about a certain game". You can't fake the dedication it takes to truly understand a game's community and build something that adds real value.
The Takeaway for Studio Leaders
The rise of the player-creator isn't a threat; it's the single biggest opportunity for game studios today. The old model of a one-way content pipeline is dying. The future belongs to studios that embrace their communities not just as consumers, but as collaborators.
Ask yourself: Are you making it easy for your players to create? Are you providing them with the tools, the platform, and the economic incentives to build with you? Because if you're not, another game will. The "forever games" of the next decade will be the ones that harness the passion of their players and empower them to become the next Sandy.
The New Influencer Isn't a Streamer—It's a Modder
Forget everything you think you know about influence. While streamers and YouTubers have dominated the conversation for years, a more powerful type of creator has been quietly building massive, loyal communities:
Sandy didn’t set out to be an influencer. He started by making furniture for his daughter to use in ARK. But his creations resonated, and he's now sitting on over 80 million downloads.
Why is this so potent? Because modders don't just talk about the game; they actively build for it. They are deeply embedded in the community, listening to what players want and creating content that fills the gaps between official DLCs and updates. As Shahar puts it, "the relationship there is much more gratifying for everyone because there's a real strong kind of emotional hook and allegiance between the creator and this community in a way that the game really can't manufacture". For studios, this is a direct line to player desires, offering authentic insights that no market research report can match.
UGC Isn't a Feature; It's Your Retention Engine
The biggest challenge for any live service game is keeping players engaged long-term. Publishers pour millions into live ops teams to pump out content, but even the best-funded studios struggle to keep pace with player consumption. This is where UGC becomes a game-changer. It transforms a game from a static product into a constantly evolving platform.
"UGC does kind of retain people," Sandy explains. "They keep coming back just because the new mods keep releasing". This creates a powerful feedback loop: creators like Sandy release new content, which brings players back, and the analytics from platforms like CurseForge show him exactly what's resonating, guiding his next project. He's not just guessing; he's making data-driven decisions based on what the community is actively playing and enjoying. The result? Games like ARK don't just survive; they thrive, becoming "forever games" with near-infinite replayability driven by the community itself.
Spicy Take 🔥
"We're going to see smaller experiences and games come out and huge tent poles come out. Anything in the middle right now is going to disappear... the $10 million, $20 million, $50 million dollars games are gone." - Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf
From Passion Project to Profession: Building the Creator Economy
For years, modding was a hobby fueled by passion. Now, platforms like Overwolf are turning it into a legitimate profession. Their goal is ambitious: to pay out a billion dollars to creators by 2030. They're getting there by providing the infrastructure—tools, analytics, and seamless monetization—that allows creators to build sustainable businesses.
It's a "win-win for everybody," says Shahar. Studios get a constant stream of fresh content that keeps their games relevant, creators get paid for their work, and players get new experiences they'd never see from the original developers. This ecosystem thrives on a simple principle: passion is the ultimate driver. The best creators, Shahar notes, are those who are "proficient and passionate about a certain game". You can't fake the dedication it takes to truly understand a game's community and build something that adds real value.
The Takeaway for Studio Leaders
The rise of the player-creator isn't a threat; it's the single biggest opportunity for game studios today. The old model of a one-way content pipeline is dying. The future belongs to studios that embrace their communities not just as consumers, but as collaborators.
Ask yourself: Are you making it easy for your players to create? Are you providing them with the tools, the platform, and the economic incentives to build with you? Because if you're not, another game will. The "forever games" of the next decade will be the ones that harness the passion of their players and empower them to become the next Sandy.
The New Influencer Isn't a Streamer—It's a Modder
Forget everything you think you know about influence. While streamers and YouTubers have dominated the conversation for years, a more powerful type of creator has been quietly building massive, loyal communities:
Sandy didn’t set out to be an influencer. He started by making furniture for his daughter to use in ARK. But his creations resonated, and he's now sitting on over 80 million downloads.
Why is this so potent? Because modders don't just talk about the game; they actively build for it. They are deeply embedded in the community, listening to what players want and creating content that fills the gaps between official DLCs and updates. As Shahar puts it, "the relationship there is much more gratifying for everyone because there's a real strong kind of emotional hook and allegiance between the creator and this community in a way that the game really can't manufacture". For studios, this is a direct line to player desires, offering authentic insights that no market research report can match.
UGC Isn't a Feature; It's Your Retention Engine
The biggest challenge for any live service game is keeping players engaged long-term. Publishers pour millions into live ops teams to pump out content, but even the best-funded studios struggle to keep pace with player consumption. This is where UGC becomes a game-changer. It transforms a game from a static product into a constantly evolving platform.
"UGC does kind of retain people," Sandy explains. "They keep coming back just because the new mods keep releasing". This creates a powerful feedback loop: creators like Sandy release new content, which brings players back, and the analytics from platforms like CurseForge show him exactly what's resonating, guiding his next project. He's not just guessing; he's making data-driven decisions based on what the community is actively playing and enjoying. The result? Games like ARK don't just survive; they thrive, becoming "forever games" with near-infinite replayability driven by the community itself.
Spicy Take 🔥
"We're going to see smaller experiences and games come out and huge tent poles come out. Anything in the middle right now is going to disappear... the $10 million, $20 million, $50 million dollars games are gone." - Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf
From Passion Project to Profession: Building the Creator Economy
For years, modding was a hobby fueled by passion. Now, platforms like Overwolf are turning it into a legitimate profession. Their goal is ambitious: to pay out a billion dollars to creators by 2030. They're getting there by providing the infrastructure—tools, analytics, and seamless monetization—that allows creators to build sustainable businesses.
It's a "win-win for everybody," says Shahar. Studios get a constant stream of fresh content that keeps their games relevant, creators get paid for their work, and players get new experiences they'd never see from the original developers. This ecosystem thrives on a simple principle: passion is the ultimate driver. The best creators, Shahar notes, are those who are "proficient and passionate about a certain game". You can't fake the dedication it takes to truly understand a game's community and build something that adds real value.
The Takeaway for Studio Leaders
The rise of the player-creator isn't a threat; it's the single biggest opportunity for game studios today. The old model of a one-way content pipeline is dying. The future belongs to studios that embrace their communities not just as consumers, but as collaborators.
Ask yourself: Are you making it easy for your players to create? Are you providing them with the tools, the platform, and the economic incentives to build with you? Because if you're not, another game will. The "forever games" of the next decade will be the ones that harness the passion of their players and empower them to become the next Sandy.
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