Decentraland Launches Creator Fund to Reward Indie Creators for Games Players Love

The $30,000 Beta Season opens November 15. Creators already keep every tip and 97.5% of Shop sales, and every creator gets direct access to Decentraland's AI build skills

LONDON, Nov. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Decentraland, the free social gaming world for adults, today launched the Beta Season of its Creator Fund, a $30,000 rewards pool shared among creators based on how players engage with their games. Creators can opt in through Decentraland's Creator Hub starting today, and the first reward cycle opens November 15.

For indie developers, finishing a game is often where the hard part starts. A solo creator or a two-person team can build a game people enjoy and still earn nothing from it. On most platforms, the money only shows up once a game breaks through, and breaking through means competing with a constant flood of new releases and the algorithms that sort them. Decentraland is built for these solo creators and small teams. Anyone can download the free Creator Hub and publish a game to Decentraland on desktop and mobile, with no engine license or servers to pay for. Avatars and social features are already built into the platform, and AI skills help with the code, so the creators can put their time into game mechanics and story development. Once the game is live, the Creator Fund will reward creators for the players they bring in and keep.

More Than $660,000 to Creators in 2025

In 2025, Decentraland programs distributed more than $660,000 to creators in support, rewards and funding. It included payouts to those who built for paid open calls and contests around events like Art Week and the Music Festival. These rewards were in addition to what creators earned from their own Shop sales. That support has continued in 2026, with more than $349,000 paid out to creators so far. Now the Creator Fund adds something creators keep asking for: a reward that keeps coming as long as players keep enjoying the game.

"Decentraland's ultimate goal is to ensure that the future of software is not owned by any one corporation, and that's embedded in all we do," said Esteban Ordano, Executive Director and co-founder of Decentraland. "We set up the infrastructure for this virtual world so that it empowers the creators who build here. A key aspect to achieve this is to make sure they can get funded and rewarded for what they create. The Creator Fund is another step in that direction: a solo developer with a game people love should be able to earn from it here, without the backing of a large studio or a partnership with a big brand IP."

For creators, the difference is rewards that keep coming. "Getting paid repeatedly makes you feel like you're actually building something professionally," said stom, a Decentraland creator since 2021.

How the Creator Fund Beta Season Works

The Beta Season runs November 15 to December 31, 2026. Its $30,000 pool is split into three cycles of $10,000 each, distributed in USDC. The Decentraland Foundation and DCL Regenesis Labs fund the pool together. At the end of every cycle, each creator's share is based on how players engage with their game:

• New players who join Decentraland through the game
• Time players actively spend in it
• Players who come back to it

Cycle	Dates	Pool
Cycle 1	November 15 to 30	$10,000 USDC
Cycle 2	December 1 to 15	$10,000 USDC
Cycle 3	December 16 to 31	$10,000 USDC

Rewards are distributed within two weeks after each cycle ends.

Creators 18 and older who own the Decentraland LAND, NAME or World where their game or experience is deployed can join by opting in through Decentraland's Creator Hub and signing the Program Terms. The top games and their rewards will appear on a public leaderboard. Every game is reviewed for bots and fake activity, and only real players 18 and older on Decentraland's official desktop and mobile apps count toward rewards.

The Creator Fund Beta is meant to grow. The long-term goal is a full creator economy in Decentraland, where the games and experiences players love keep rewarding the indie creators behind them. Plans for future seasons in 2027 will be shared after the Beta Season wraps.

Creators Keep What They Earn

Decentraland has no corporate parent company. It is built by the Decentraland Foundation, a nonprofit, and DCL Regenesis Labs, a nonprofit funded by the Decentraland DAO. Neither organization takes a cut of what creators make. The small 2.5% fee on Shop sales goes directly to the Decentraland DAO's community fund:

• Shop: creators keep 97.5% of every Wearable and Emote sale.
• Resales: creators earn 2.5% of every resale of their items on the Marketplace.
• Tips: creators keep 100% of every tip from the community.

For a solo creator or small team, the real difference is that these stack. A single game can earn Creator Fund rewards and tips from players, while the Wearables and Emotes the same creator designs keep earning in the Shop and on every resale. With earnings coming from several places at once, a creator doesn't have to bet everything on one breakout hit.

AI Skills Open to Every Creator

One challenge for new creators in the past has been learning Decentraland's codebase to start building. Now every Decentraland creator gets direct access to the official Decentraland SDK Skills, 28 ready-made instruction sets that teach AI coding tools how to build for Decentraland. Creators describe what they want in plain language, and an AI coding tool such as Claude Code or Cursor does the heavy lifting. The skills cover the full path from setting up a first scene to adding multiplayer and publishing to a World, and creators no longer need to understand TypeScript to start.

Creators set the skills up with a single command, and new skills arrive as Decentraland releases them. Other AI tools help creators plan a game before they build it and test it inside Decentraland, so a solo creator always has a test partner on hand.

More Ways to Earn in Decentraland

• Wearables and Emotes: design avatar fashion and animations, sell them in the Shop and keep 97.5% of each sale.
• Buildathons, game jams and seasonal contests: short, themed challenges with quick prizes, no full game build required.
• Grants: the DCL Regenesis Labs Grants Program funds bigger projects as they get built.
• Creator Success: an application-only program launched in Q3 2026 that gives staged funding to games ready to grow, starting with up to $4,100 for a first playable version.
• Commissioned work: independent studios and freelancers build experiences for brands and communities.
• In-game creator purchases: arriving in Q1 2027, giving creators more control over what they earn from their own games.

GAME OVER: 2026 Game Jam Starts in Late November

A game jam is an easy way in for first-time creators. Many of Decentraland's top creators got their start in one.

The next game jam, GAME OVER: 2026, kicks off in late November. With the theme Final Boss, creators are challenged to build a final level featuring an epic boss fight, competing for a share of an $8,000 prize pool. Creators can follow Decentraland on social media so they don't miss when registration opens.

It follows the FriendZone Buildathon, which ran from August 14 to September 4, 2026. Builders submitted 65 social game projects for the Decentraland Mobile App, competing for an $8,000 prize pool, paid in MANA and split across five winning projects. Standout projects can also be considered for grants or Creator Success funding in the future. First place went to Battle Zone, a multiplayer plane-combat game, and the full list of winners is on DoraHacks.

"We pool our resources with the Foundation so creators have one clear path, from a first game jam entry all the way to a funded game," said Gino Cingolani, Executive Director of DCL Regenesis Labs. "Regenesis Labs is funded by the DAO, so our job is to put those resources where they make Decentraland better for players and builders. Backing the people who make great experiences is the most direct way to do that."

Creators can opt in to the Creator Fund through Decentraland's Creator Hub starting today. Full details are at decentraland.org/creator-fund.

About Decentraland

Decentraland is a free social gaming world where you play games and hang out with other adults online. Founded in 2015 and opened to the public in 2020, Decentraland has no corporate parent company. It is supported by the nonprofit Decentraland Foundation, and creators own what they build. Decentraland is available on desktop, including the Epic Games Store, and on mobile. Learn more at decentraland.org.

About DCL Regenesis Labs

DCL Regenesis Labs is the execution arm of the Decentraland DAO, created to bring community-driven initiatives to life. It builds open-source software for Decentraland, like the mobile app, web client and creator tooling, and runs community programs for creators.

Media Contact

Kim Currier, Head of Partnerships and Marketing

press@decentraland.org

Creator Fund questions: creatorfund@decentraland.org