mod.io announces $26M Series A to fuel UGC growth in more games

Announcing an investment of $26 million, mod.io will use this investment to develop UGC.
mod.io Tech Diagram
mod.io is a platform that allows games to better interact with their communities.

Platform mod.io, which combines game studios with content created by community users, has secured $26 million in its latest investment round. Led by Tencent, new investors LEGO Ventures, OIF Ventures, and existing investors Makers Fund, Play Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and GameTech will join forces to further their vision of developing the digital game industry.

The popularity of UGC continues to increase rapidly in the game industry, which will exceed $180 billion annually in 2021. mod.io estimates that for every $10 spent on video games by 2025, $1 will be spent on UGC, with overall spending increasing by 400 percent by 2021. In other words, UGC is estimated to reach a worldwide value of $25 billion by 2025. Aiming to make mod making and delivery easier for most studios, mod.io will aim for studios to adapt to their own games and communities.

CEO and Co-Founder of mod.io Scott Reismanis used the following words;

“The metaverse will be built with UGC as foundational components. Player-made content, hand in hand with professional content, made by game studios. Our goal at mod.io is to enable games to launch their own creator economy, providing studios with the building blocks wanted and needed by players.”

As digital games become more and more social gaming experiences, game studios are beginning to recognize the value and interactivity that mods provide. The change is driven by demand from the community, who want broader content and deeper customizations that deliver creativity. Studios choose to focus on developing a stronger relationship with their players by actively embracing UGC.

Bo Wang, Corporate Vice President of Tencent Games, said:

“At Tencent, we believe that UGC drives innovation in gaming. Many of the largest video game genres today started out as UGC, or mods, built by enthusiasts on top of existing products. For over two decades, Scott and his team have been instrumental in supporting the growth of this community. As a stakeholder in the future of this industry, Tencent is proud to support mod.io on its path to unlock creativity across the gaming ecosystem.”

Rob Lowe, Managing Director of LEGO Ventures Digital Play, said:

“The awesome team at mod.io have created a UGC platform that allows any game to be rebuilt and adapted by the player. We believe this is a great example of the core LEGO idea applied to digital play, and we are extremely excited to support mod.io as they further expand the platform, community and range of games utilising this highly promising technology.”

Game studios praised mod.io’s role in helping to connect more with their communities. Ghost Ship Games’ Deep Rock Galactic game launched in-game mod support on Steam and Xbox in September 2021, and since then, more than 500 mods have been downloaded 1.4 million times.

Deep Rock Galactic

Søren Lundgaard, CEO of Ghost Ship Studios, added:

“Collaborating with mod.io has been a great experience, and we are very satisfied with the integration and player experience mod.io as a platform provides to the game. It also became clear to us that mod.io is working hard to constantly improve their platform, which shows significant promise for the future of the service,”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *