mod.io Newsletter: IPs & UGC
Talking about IPs, SSO for studios, and some fresh mod.io documentation!
Scott Reismanis, CEO - Exciting to get back to our newsletter after a couple of months marked by a very productive edition of GDC for mod.io. It’s always an incredible pleasure to catch up at an event with all of our established and prospective partners. It’s also our opportunity to feel the pulse of the industry and see how the latest user-generated content trends have evolved.
Something we’ve seen developing, at mod.io as well as among both partners and competitors, is the increasing appetite for UGC and modding coming from brands, including non-gaming entities. It’s, of course, always been a challenge to tackle the UGC question for established IPs, brand safety remains a legitimate concern and challenge to tackle. But as modding becomes more mainstream and extends outside of its original PC niche, we see more and more interest from IP owners to explore the incredible potential of their communities of creators.
We got our first title using a powerful entertainment brand with Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector from our friends at Black Lab Games and Slitherine Software launching a mod.io integration for their official user-generated content support; allowing their players to create and share maps and campaigns set in the Warhammer 40k universe.
Maybe even more interesting, and at the forefront of trends we expect to see develop exponentially in upcoming years, we’ve had examples from non-gaming brands. Specifically in the automobile industry, with Edison Motors and EV company DongFeng using Snowrunner and commissioning modders to showcase digital versions of their vehicles in-game. It’s a fascinating use case to see take shape, allowing potential buyers to test-drive and promote their vehicles via video game mods.
Non-gaming brands working to leverage the reach of our medium isn’t new of course, but the democratization and development of UGC offers unique new opportunities to do so in an affordable and disruptive way, by relying on talented independent creators.
Single Sign-On (SSO) for studios & publishers
The vision for mod.io services is to integrate fully and transparently within our partners’ games, eliminating friction for players, and keeping them focused and engaged within the game ecosystem.
SSO using studios or publishers' existing accounts systems is our latest feature pushing further our white label integration. It allows for instant login whether the player is in-game, in a launcher, or on the web where they’re already logged in to the studios’ account system.
Beyond the obvious user experience benefits, SSO allows for stronger moderation and better metrics by tying mod.io accounts directly to your existing systems. Strengthening your connection with your player community by giving them a reason to sign in and engage with your games to create and explore UGC. Paired with an embedded web hub on your game’s existing website, it moves the mod.io integration entirely into your ecosystem, without your player ever needing to interact with a third-party platform.
Freshly released, Homeworld 3 features our first integration of this feature going live, using Gearbox SHiFT account system for players to log into mod.io. SSO for studios & publishers is part of mod.io premium features, if you’d like to learn more about it, please reach out!
New Developers Documentation
Our documentation was long due for a proper update, so we’re happy to introduce our new developer documentation portal! Updated with consistent and up-to-date documentation for our REST API, C++ SDK, Unreal Engine & Unity plugins, and all our advanced features (Moderation, Metrics, Authentication, Marketplace).
While some content is still being updated, this should already present a significant improvement over our previous documentation. Please reach out to us if you have any feedback or areas where you identify missing information that would be useful to you.
Celebrating a milestone: One Billion Mods & UGC downloads
Earlier this year, we were delighted to celebrate our billionth download using mod.io services; a significant milestone for us, but mainly a testament to the work of all of our partners and on the 160+ games using mod.io!
Latest Releases
Delighted to work with such an incredible IP in Warhammer 40k: Battlesector; take Crypt of the Necrodancer’s modding solution to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch with full cross-platform multiplayer support; and launch our first sequel with Saber and Focus with Expeditions, given the immense success from SnowRunner
