Build Your Gaming Empire: How AI and UGC Are Disrupting the Gaming Industry A new 'gaming intelligence' model enables solo creators to rapidly produce and monetize digital assets for platforms like Roblox and Fortnite.

Gaming has evolved significantly in the last couple of decades. From a technology point of view, the evolution is evident. There is a parallel economy that traverses through these gaming franchises; for instance, there are live TV series based on games like Fallout and The Last of Us. In many ways, several games have also transcended into a social square.

The shift is well-explained in the Bain & Company 2025 Gaming Report. According to the report, young gamers are among the biggest contributors to the success of top games. It further stated that video games are the most popular form of media for those under 18 years old, reflecting a dominance in media consumption compared to other age groups.

"The net effect is that young people's favorite games are more heavily clustered around a few top titles than in other age groups. Those aged between 2 and 17 are 20 percentage points more likely than gamers aged 35 and older to prefer playing the short list of games that are most popular among their peers," the report said.

"There's compelling evidence that preferences for games carry forward: The percentage of Roblox users aged 13 and older increased from about 50% in 2021 to around 60% in 2024, as a significant portion of younger users stuck with the game as they aged. If young gamers sustain their habits over the long term, new games may find it harder to break through," it added.

The report also highlighted that platform-style games like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft have become popular among the younger generation mainly because of their 'living platform-like' feel, whereas conventional AAA games or franchise models focus more on delivering sequels with improvements across graphics, content, and gameplay.

UGC Boom & Intelligence-led Creators

One byproduct of the aforementioned transition is the emergence of user-generated content (UGC). A growing number of gamers and solo creators are rapidly producing fully customizable, monetizable digital gaming assets with a 90–95% success rate that meet the rising demand driven by peer networks and community engagement. Clearly, game owners do not mind this at all.

According to a Ken Research report published earlier this month, UGC is now at the center of the gaming economy. In 2024, Roblox paid USD 1 billion to creators, while Fortnite payouts remained substantial. Roblox currently supports a massive network of monetized creators.

"Demographically, UGC aligns with a profound generational shift, as 44% of children begin gaming by age 5 and 77% by age 7, with first exposure concentrated on UGC platforms like Roblox and Minecraft. As a result, Gen Alpha enters gaming as creators rather than passive consumers, expanding the long-term supply of developer-creators," the report said.

Source: Bain & Company

"Discovery patterns are shifting as well, with 40% of gamers reporting consuming more UGC this year, and 55% trying a game recommended by a favorite creator, making influencers one of the most potent demand engines in the industry. UGC is no longer additive but is becoming a foundational pillar of engagement and monetization," it added.

The Intelligence Advantage: Intelligence matters because "precision, not averages" now dictates success. According to Game State Labs (2025), studios using real-time "state data" (analyzing every player action) have seen a 15–20% lift in in-app purchase (IAP) uptake by serving the right asset or difficulty tweak at the exact moment of player friction.

Source: Bain & Company

While it is evident that the UGC-led boom is here to stay, the infusion of AI could further democratize this. It is estimated that the mainstream adoption of AI in gaming, with 75% of 3D artists expected to use AI assistance by 2025, will mark a major shift in creative workflows. Developers are incorporating UGC, underscoring the powerful network effect among young gamers driving demand for fresh, differentiated assets.

Speaking to Entrepreneur, Pavel Bains, CEO of Ambitionz, highlighted that content creation is currently limited to those with technical skills. He believes future creators will be individuals like streamers or younger generations—essentially people who can pursue becoming gaming entrepreneurs.

Singapore-headquartered Ambitionz has developed an AI model called Cipher, touted as an "AI that thinks like a game developer".

On the user side, it features a familiar chat interface. A creator can describe what they want, upload an image, and create a character or house. Upon export, the asset is delivered in the specific format used by platforms like Fortnite and Roblox. It works with any Unity-based game as well as Unreal Engine, Fortnite (UEFN), and Roblox. As games like Grand Theft Auto, PUBG, and Call of Duty incorporate UGC components, the model will integrate those as well.

"Our tagline is 'Build Your Own Gaming Empire'. We enable someone with no technical skills to create a character—like a Pixar-style superhero—and drop it into Roblox to start playing within 10 minutes," Bains said.

"Right now, it's 3D assets like characters, props, and backgrounds. We are already implementing particle effects, lighting, and physics. Eventually, you will be able to build complete levels and full games. We are also planning to build a marketplace within Cipher so people can sell and trade what they create," he explained.

Will UGC components make games more complicated or cluttered? What about apprehensions from gaming purists?

Bains explained that purists always react this way. They were against mobile games, free-to-play games, and Twitch streaming. Each was eventually adopted and expanded the market. Eventually, they will see AI as a "superpower" that speeds up workflows and allows for faster testing and validation of concepts.

"We stick to industry standards and try to prevent unhealthy content, especially regarding content for kids or protected IP. However, there is a limit to what we can police. Just as Adobe cannot stop someone from using Photoshop to create illegal content, we cannot police every single thing a user might do," he added.

Having said that, the shift toward creator-led economies is here to stay, and likely to ride on the UGC market, which is expected to maintain a double-digit CAGR through 2030. Though, with 3D asset production becoming as intuitive as typical text editing, there's a shift from a fixed-content model to an infinite-iteration model, akin to Vindaloop from South Park.