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Fandom, UGC gaming and in-game advertising: SEG3 London Learnings Part 2

& Midjourney is sued by Disney & Comcast + Netflix brings Squid Game to Fortnite for season 3 launch

Author

Joe Condon
June 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

Welcome back to the 65th edition of The SEG3 Report.

Today we’ll dive into the second batch of learnings from SEG3 London, Disney & Comcast’s legal action against Midjourney for copyright infringement, and what IP owners can do to protect and monetise their IP in todays GenAI landscape, plus Netflix bringing Squid Game to Fortnite as they ramp up for the release of season 3 later this week.

Let’s get into it…

Contents: Edition #65

Key Learnings from SEG3 London Part 2

Part 1 of the recap saw us dive into the sessions themed around storytelling, IP and financing content. Miss it? Read it here.

Part 2 steers more towards building fandom, UGC gaming and in-game advertising.

On that note, the next instalment of 6:

7) Gameloft & NumberEight on Futureproofing Gaming for Brands

→ If gaming doesn’t become integrated into brands core marketing budgets, it’s not going to reach the levels it should. The only way to unlock this? Better reporting & analytics.

→ That means the sourcing of data becomes incredibly important. With improved demographic, behavioural and affinity data, brands can feel more safe and confident to shift larger parts of their media budgets to gaming.

8) The New Fan Journey: Bridging IRL with URL

→ Building fandom early is essential. But the traditional ways of youth audiences discovering your brand or IP has immeasurably changed. Finding authentic ways to integrate your brand into youth culture (whether that be through games, content or experiences) is now Step 1 of the fandom journey for many.

→ New channels means more opportunities (but also challenges). There’s lots of opportunity to commercialise by building new digital inventory for existing (or new) partners, but it’s imperative that all digital and physical touchpoints are connected so that it’s not a disjointed experience for fans.


9) Sports Games 2.0: Players to Stakeholders

→ A good free-to-play game might monetise 5-6% of their audience, so finding a way to build an in-game economy that rewards those players that want to invest their time rather than money, but connects them with players that are willing to invest money, can unlock a completely new model for game developers. Mythical Games (in Year 2 of NFL Rivals) were attributing 65% of their revenue to trading between players.

→ Mobile games are still the most accessible to a global audience. For sports IP that is looking to grow fandom and reach new markets, a mobile game strategy is essential.


10) The Convergence: Sports, Entertainment & Gaming

→ The commercial models within sports & entertainment are lending from successful strategies in gaming - think season passes, boosts, unlocking new content etc. Entertainment does an incredible job at building IP and extending the lifecycle of their franchises - much of which can be learnt across sports & games. Look to these adjacent industries for inspiration when trying to innovate.

→ A lot of the crossover between sports, entertainment & gaming is still surface level. Broader integrations into arenas that are perceived as non-endemic or unexpected will unlock new audiences and fans, but there must be a deep understanding and appreciation of the culture you’re entering into to make it authentic and well received. Honouring the heritage of your brand is a must, but if that prevents you from evolving and testing new collaborations and platforms, you’ll be dead in the water.


11) In conversation with Zoltan Bathory

→ You need to build cultural economies around your brands. No longer is it just enough to be a band, sports league, game etc - you need to give your fans more opportunity to connect with you, and that means sharing more and leaning into other passion points from across culture.

→ However, whatever platform you are on, you need to stay true to your culture and messaging. Keep speaking your language on those platforms, and fans with those interests will find you. Being too generic means you lose your niche, lose your audience and appeal to nobody.


12) Will UGC Games Capture Youth Culture?

→ Sports & Games share a lot of DNA together - they’re both built on shared experiences and creating memories. UGC gaming unlocks deep engagement (i.e. being able to create assets and leave their mark within the ecosystem) which leans into that emotional connection and helps the fan to feel like they’re a bigger part of the community.

→ UGC platforms are inherently social, and are influencing IRL behaviours. If you’ve engaged with a Roblox experience for example, you’re 11% more likely to watch a game. For industries like sports & entertainment, where the product is largely IRL (at the movies or in-stadium), being able to leverage UGC platforms to drive real-life engagement and fandom is going to be a key unlock.

So, that’s sessions 12/18 rounded up. And really I think the takeaway is all around convergence.

Today, value sits firmly at the intersection of culture, community and participation. Luckily for us, these elements are already ingrained into the DNA of sports, entertainment & gaming.

What is changing is how that DNA is being expressed: through platforms like Roblox and UGC ecosystems that are actively shaping youth culture and even influencing IRL behaviour, and through mobile games that are broadening global fandoms and unlocking new monetisation opportunities. The lines between creating and consuming, and fan and stakeholder, continue to blur.

And although more touchpoints are needed, they only matter if there’s an overarching strategy to use them to build genuine connection. Because without emotional connection, belonging and shared experience, younger audiences will simply look elsewhere - and they have truly never had more options.

See you next week for the final instalment ✌️

Disney & Comcast sue Midjourney for copyright infringement

Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit claims that Midjourney unlawfully used and distributed numerous images of the studios' iconic characters, including Darth Vader, Elsa, the Minions and characters from Marvel, Pixar, and DreamWorks franchises.

Why should you care?

TL;DR: This will be a landmark case - two of the largest media conglomerates taking on a GenAI incumbent, with the outcome sure to have ramifications on how IP is protected and monetised for decades to come. There is no doubt everyone should be fairly compensated for their creations, but is a “takedown” approach to infringement even feasible in today’s landscape? Are there other approaches which could lead to better commercial returns?

In full: The core of the lawsuit is pretty simple. Comcast and Disney are accusing Midjourney of scraping copyrighted content to train their models, and then enabling the public to generate works based on that same content.

This news broke on the 12th June, a day after Edition #63 of this report, where we had Graham Robinson - Co-Founder of Yakoa contributing about why traditional approaches to IP protection i.e. a takedown approach to infringement, are now becoming harder and harder (or in other terms, impossible).

It does a great job of articulating the challenges and solutions IP owners face, and the likely internal discussions both Disney & Universal are having - so rather than rehash it, here is a quick segment below:

In today's digital world, individuals can produce professional-grade content like music, videos, and digital products faster and more easily than ever. Powered by AI tooling, content creators are no longer just fans. They are becoming part of the creative ecosystems surrounding major brands.

This rapid evolution is forcing a fundamental rethink. Traditional IP protection no longer works.

For decades, brands focused on enforcement, targeting counterfeiters and infringers on major platforms through slow, manual processes. Legal teams concentrated their efforts on the most damaging, high-exposure content, assuming that smaller infringements were insignificant. But the reality has shifted. The vast majority of IP interactions today are not malicious thefts. They are passionate fans creating, remixing, and expanding on the IP they love.

Historically, many brands chose to ignore this fan-driven activity unless it grew large enough to pose a direct threat. However, as AI tools supercharge the quality, scale, and speed of community-created content, ignoring these small infringements is no longer viable. What once seemed harmless now has the potential to scale rapidly, impacting brand reputation and IP value before a brand can react.

The approach must change. Brands must shift from protection to management. They must become stewards of their IP, focusing not just on stopping bad actors but also on embracing the creative energy of their communities.

Graham Robinson - Yakoa

And there’s a lot more to unpick about why communities and fans want to create with their favourite IPs (we spoke about the power that this has earlier on in the UGC & Youth Culture synopsis above), so I’d strongly recommend giving it a read if you haven’t already.

Netflix bring Squid Game to Fortnite for season 3 launch

Epic Games has announced the launch of a new map for Fortnite's Reload mode, titled Squid Grounds, which will be available later this week in the build up to Netflix’s release of Squid Game season 3 on June 27th.

Why should you care?

TL;DR: Netflix have built a pretty comprehensive flywheel that now spans content, games, IRL experiences and much more. All of which they leverage for new show releases, just like the upcoming season of Squid Game. Integrating the IP into Fortnite is a great way to build hype before the release - giving superfans the opportunity to immerse themselves in iconic scenes whilst introducing it to non-viewers within the Fortnite audience.

In full: Fornite have been on quite the run of late.

Marvel superheroes, Star Wars characters, Lionel Messi and Son Heung-Min, as we covered in last week’s edition. It’s been a pretty stacked release schedule that has seen multiple cultural icons blended into one ecosystem.

And this is no exception, with Netflix now bringing one of their most popular series to the platform - Squid Game, just in time for the launch of Season 3 (it’s this Friday, and yes, I will be watching).

With IP integrations into games becoming a key go-to-market strategy for Netflix (which they have also done for Cobra Kai & Spellbound, which we covered in Edition 37), it’s very quickly become a powerful tool that many entertainment properties are using as a way to build hype and suspense before a movie/series drops.

Tag this in with Netflix also doubling down on building physical touchpoints with their “Netflix House” (which we covered in Edition 40), and you can see the reach that they have across mediums and generations to get fans, and new audiences, fully immersed into their stories and IPs before, during and after they launch.

As gaming increasingly becomes a key channel for marketing and storytelling, I have no doubts we’ll see more entertainment IPs leverage its interactivity to world-build, engage new fans and extend the lifespan of their franchises.

In other news this week…

  • Netflix also launch Squid Game onto Roblox in preparation for Season 3: read here.

  • Are vertical dramas the next big things?: read here.

  • FC Barcelona launch Barca Pass: read here.

  • EngageRM acquires Power’d Digital to boost fan engagement offering: read here.

  • OneFootball are launching OneFootball Credits: read here.

  • UK Government to invest £380m into creative industries: read here.

  • The NY Mets will celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day on 1 July: read here.

  • Infinite Reality rebrands as Napster Corp: read here.

  • PSG partner with CrowdIQ to redefine stadium experience using AI, computer vision & behavioural analytics: read here.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now folks - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report and if you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a friend!