Rise of New Metaverse Forces: UGC Creators Beyond Roblox and Fortnite Are Being Targeted by Brands!

If Roblox and Fortnite are the "golden tracks" of the metaverse era, then more and more UGC creators are quietly carving out their own "diamond-level battlefield" outside these major platforms.

And the most interesting part is - brands are actively seeking them out.

You Think UGC Only Works in Games? Reality Is More Exciting Than You Imagine

Over the past two years, a new type of creator has quietly emerged: they're no longer limited to text, images, and videos, but directly create three-dimensional virtual worlds. From Roblox to Fortnite, these platforms were once the main battlefield for UGC creators. But by 2025, some smart content producers have started looking toward "second-tier" UGC platforms.

You might not have heard the name "Soydade," but he has nearly 150,000 followers on the Highrise platform, earning $300,000 in two years from a virtual poker room. This isn't a coincidence - Highrise's mechanism encourages high-quality, sticky content creation. "You can earn coins daily based on room activity, as long as you can retain players, there's a steady stream of income," Soydade says.

And on Overwolf's CurseForge platform, Francisco "Sandi" Montaño earns a stable monthly income of over $14,000 by creating mod packs for "ARK: Survival Evolved." He says: "I have five mods in the top ten, with total downloads approaching 40 million."

Doesn't this sound a bit like the early years of YouTube's explosion?

Why Are Brands Looking Beyond Roblox and Fortnite? Aren't They Good Enough?

Frankly speaking, these two platforms are still mainstream. But in 2024, 558 brands launched virtual world projects, with 370 of them trying UGC collaboration for the first time. What does this mean? It means brands are looking for new ways to break through the current media noise.

Chris Mann, an executive at advertising agency REVXP, analyzes: "Brands need to find new ways to communicate with millennials and Gen Z. These immersive 3D scenes provide just such an opportunity."

More importantly, these young people have grown up immersed in these virtual spaces, and their acceptance of this interaction method is far higher than traditional media. For them, putting on a VR device to enter a custom brand experience center is as natural as scrolling through TikTok.

Facing Challenges: Rules Not Yet Perfect, But Future Worth Expecting

Of course, this blue ocean isn't without hidden reefs. Currently, UGC platform commercialization is still in its early stages, with issues like copyright, advertising compliance, and effectiveness measurement still existing.

Chris Mann raises a very practical question: "Are these mods really legal? Can they embed advertisements freely?" If these questions aren't answered, they might hinder more brands from entering.

But the good news is that platforms like Overwolf are already trying to solve these problems. Their advertising business grew by 15% in the past year, becoming the fourth most-visited gaming-related website in the US. This shows the market is starting to recognize the value of such platforms.

Jack Hennessy, Global Media Executive Director at SCC, puts it interestingly: "We're always looking for new ways to reach young user groups who are increasingly numb to traditional advertising."

Conclusion

The relationship between UGC creators and brands is becoming closer. As more creators find sustainable development paths on non-mainstream platforms, brands are slowly realizing - perhaps true innovation lies in these seemingly "niche" places.

This virtual content revolution, driven by creators and followed by brands, may have just begun.