Hey folks - welcome to Edition #86 of The SEG3 Report!

Today’s edition features a deep dive from Overwolf on Hasbro’s Power Rangers, and how an in-game mod helped to drive 6m+ paid downloads.

We then take a look at Roblox’s launch of self-serve IP licensing, and Jagex’s removal of microtransactions in RuneScape after a community vote.

But before we get into things - FIFA, LiveNation, LAFC, Universal Music Group, Hasbro and more have joined SEG3 Los Angeles lineup for Dec 9 & 10.

You now have just three weeks left to grab your spot if you’d like to join them ⤵️

What drove 6M+ players to a single Hasbro mod?

Earlier this year, Hasbro partnered with Overwolf to bring the Power Rangers universe into ARK via a premium in-game mod. The activation has since crossed 6M+ downloads, marking one of the most successful branded mod launches to date and highlighting how fast the creator-driven in-game economy is scaling.

TL;DR:

• There are many opportunities for marketers to reach audiences in gaming beyond Fortnite/Roblox activations.

• Overwolf’s 113M-gamer ecosystem and CurseForge’s massive modding community enable scalable, cross-game UGC integrations.

• “In-game creators” (modders, app developers, server owners) now drive huge UGC demand across hundreds of top titles.

• Brands like Hasbro are launching premium branded mods that generate organic buzz, deep engagement and new revenue streams.

• Rewarded in-game achievements allow precise, contextually timed brand messaging across major titles.

As 2026 approaches, seasoned marketers have begun forging a new path to reach and engage gamers away from the flood of branded Fortnite and Roblox experiences.

At the centre of this emerging wave lies Overwolf; the award-winning gaming platform that 113M monthly gamers use to gain access to safe, curated and cross-platform UGC content and apps from over 178K in-game creators in 100s of the most well-known titles (think Minecraft, The Sims 4, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty & more).

Global brands like Paramount, Hasbro, Universal Pictures, Netflix, HULU, KFC, Armani, Pringles & more are already harnessing Overwolf’s platform to capitalize on not just the scale of its gaming audience, but more importantly, the variety.

Introducing: The In-Game Creator

The term in-game creator describes the emerging category of modders, app developers, and private-server owners who enhance, extend and monetize gameplay across the biggest titles.

Zooming into just one of those categories: today's modding ecosystem operates on an unprecedented scale. From Minecraft to Sims 4, Stardew Valley to Balders Gate III and even Grand Theft Auto V, the top 100 most popular titles are bursting with UGC-centric games that are powered by in-game creators.

The world’s leading gaming modification platform CurseForge (acquired by Overwolf from Twitch in 2020) hosts millions of community-created mods across thousands of games generating billions of downloads.

The rising appetite from brands and IP holders to harness the scale and variety provided by in-game creators in order to find white space away from Fortnite and Roblox has been unprecedented.

Overwolf paid out $300M to in-game creators in 2025 alone, driven by a monumental surge in advertiser demand on its platform, alongside a new technological framework for launching branded “premium mods” (essentially, paid-for mods) across the biggest titles.

How Brands Are Getting In-Game

Brands can harness the power of UGC to move beyond just Fortnite and Roblox in many different ways; but let’s focus on two avenues with real world examples.

1. Branded Mods
Hasbro’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 

As one of the top 100 best selling games in the world, ARK: Survival Ascended has become a leading playground for brands away from Fortnite and Roblox, in part, down to its vibrant modding ecosystem (powered by CurseForge).

Hasbro partnered with Overwolf & CurseForge to launch the iconic IP into the popular survival game via a branded premium cosmetics pack (think Power Rangers character skins, emotes, weapons & dinos).

The launch generated a huge amount of organic buzz, more than most in-game brand activations launched into Roblox and Fortnite, simply by occupying white space where most other brands weren't looking.

Importantly, this mod is not free to download. Players have to pay to unlock it, and even still, it has generated over 4M+ downloads, leading to a second wave update which has generated a further 2M+ downloads to date.

Not only has Hasbro generated millions of hours of deep playtime where gamers are interacting with the iconic Power Rangers IP, they have created a very significant additional digital revenue stream on top.

2. Rewarded Achievements
Tropicana’s Naked Smoothie: The 78-Minute Gamer Break

Overwolf’s inventory of in-game apps extends across hundreds of the biggest game titles. From real-time analytics in League of Legends to screen-capture clipping in Call of Duty, millions of gamers are utilising these apps as overlays whilst they're playing the biggest games.

Brands are able to harness this unique technology to detect thousands of unique in-game events across hundreds of games at the same time (e.g. winning moments, level ups, goals scored etc) and trigger in-game messaging at the perfect moment.

Dentsu X and Tropicana’s Naked Smoothie wanted to position themselves amongst gamers as the perfect beverage to quench thirst and hunger. So we targeted the biggest titles over-indexing with Gen Z (including Fortnite, VALORANT, Apex Legends & World of Warcraft) via our network of apps during playtime.

We paired contextual messaging with in-game rewards, cheering millions of gamers on when they were statistically most likely to be craving a snack break.

The results were extraordinary, with over 1 million players engaged, 48,000 hours (5.48 years) of cumulative playtime logged and significant lifts in purchase intent, brand favorability, awareness, and recall.

Join Our Workshop at SEG3 LA:
Most branded in-game efforts still rely on single-game activations, like Fortnite or Roblox, that require long development cycles, high production costs, and reach only a fraction of the gaming universe.

Overwolf changes that equation. By giving brands direct access to an ecosystem that spans 1,500+ games and 113M monthly gamers, advertisers are free to engage players seamlessly, authentically, and safely across hundreds of titles where their audience may be.

We’re taking the stage with Hasbro at SEG3 LA for a workshop on “The Creator Class: How Brands, IP & Creators Build Together” to uncover:

• How Hasbro’s Power Rangers paid in-game mod hit 6M+ downloads

• What benefits branded mods offer vs Roblox & Fortnite UEFN

• Single game brand campaigns vs scalable multi-game activations

• Clear UGC frameworks for identifying whitespace for your brand or IP

Ready to learn more?

• Don’t miss out on our workshop on Dec 10, 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM

• Head to our website for more info about us

See you in LA!

– The Overwolf Team

Roblox Launches Self-Serve IP Licensing

Back in July, Roblox launched License Manager. This week, they’ve taken the bigger step and made the entire system fully self-serve. IP owners can now register their IP, set bespoke license terms and revenue splits, scan the platform for usage, and have royalties automatically paid, with no manual negotiation required.

TL;DR:

• With 6M+ experiences on the platform, most IP owners property is already being used in some form; sometimes as fandom, sometimes as infringement.

• The update introduces a scalable third option - retroactive micro-licensing (instead of ignoring or taking down UGC) - which has the potential to unlock new revenue opportunities that were not prioritised or discovered in the past.

• Treat UGC as a discovery engine, showing where your brand is resonating and where new crossover audiences exist.

Roblox is rolling out the next-stage of License Manager, which launched in July (and we covered in Edition 69) by this week making the platform self-serve.

This means IP owners can now register their IP, set up platform licenses with customised terms and revenue share (which Roblox is reporting averages between 10-25%), proactively scan for IP usage, and automatically collect agreed-upon revenue.

So, why does it matter?

For those of you that have listened to our chat with Lisa Willett on Ep.1 of The Speakeasy, you’ll know there are now over 6 million experiences on Roblox. 6 MILLION!

With so many experiences being built, and audiences so fragmented across the platform, it offers up a concoction opportunities and challenges for IP owners:

1 - You’re likely being infringed upon

The reality is in an ecosystem as big and vibrants as Roblox’s, your IP is likely being used by creators to showcase their fandom, or even maliciously by those looking to benefit from the value and attention built around your IP.

This used to give you two options:

Ignore it, or take it down.

But through License Manager, Roblox is offering IP owners a third choice - which allows creators to continue developing games, but only if they license the IP properly.

In essence, it’s a form of retroactive licensing, which, given the growth and ubiquity of UGC and AI platforms/tools, I firmly believe is the only scalable way to combat the influx of infringements.

If you want to go deeper into that topic, check out Edition 63, where Graham Robinson, Co-Founder of Yakoa shared what they’re seeing fighting infringement alongside major IP owners.

2 - You can discover new audiences

It’s not all risk however - there is opportunity in infringement.

Given so many games are being developed each day, and huge audiences are accumulating around a percentage of them, it gives brands/IP owners the opportunity to gauge sentiment, spot trends and uncover complimentary audiences (outside of the norm) by seeing where their IP and/or sport/brand is popping up.

For example, lets say you’re The Snow League or FIS, and find there are a wealth of successful winter sport experiences (focused on your sports, or the culture around it), that’s a strong indicator that audiences are craving more content / opportunities to engage with the sport, and thus, you should be exploring how you can service that need (whether it’s through License Manager, integrations, UGC items etc).

In essence, UGC becomes an incredibly important social listening tool, and a discovery engine for you to find new audiences craving your content that you’re not yet servicing.

So, summarising the opportunity:

Typically, IP owners don’t focus on smaller infringements - it simply isn’t worth their while. But with the new self-serve process on Roblox, it makes micro-licensing quick, easy and more akin to how many IP owners have worked with partners/licensees in the past.

And whilst each deal on its own won’t make or break the business, it has the potential to drive new revenue that wouldn’t have been discovered (or prioritised) in the past.

And nobody is going to look a gift horse in the mouth if there are licensing opportunities that get dropped into your lap.

Closing Thoughts

I am firmly of the belief that the most successful businesses will be those that find ways to participate (and plug in their official IP) to popular conversations and experiences, not police/enforce.

Roblox’s expansion of License Manager to include self-serve pushes the conversation further in that direction, making it easier for brands to show up with their communities and creators instead of against them, and allows them to monetise the energy that already exists rather than trying to suppress it.

RuneScape to remove microtransactions after community vote

RuneScape will remove its ‘Treasure Hunter’ microtransaction system on January 19th 2026, following a community vote in which more than 120,000 players supported its elimination. The loot-box style system, launched in 2014, allowed players daily free keys and additional paid keys for XP boosts, gameplay-skipping items and in-game gold. The decision is part of a broader transformation by Jagex that aims to deliver greater fairness and long-term improvements across its games.

TL;DR:

• Balancing fan expectations with commercial need is difficult - but more and more we’re seeing fans push back on over-commercialisation (whether that be microtransactions in game, a hike in ticket prices etc).

• The decision gives Jagex a chance to reframe RuneScape 3’s direction, but with buy-in from their loyal player base, they can now continue evolving the game to attract new players and future-proof the franchise.

• Key takeaways: communicate early and often, lean into nostalgia, and prioritise long-term trust over short-term revenue.

RuneScape. A game any self-respecting millennial (or older Gen Z) sunk a tonne of hours into when growing up.

Despite being a lapsed player of 15+ years myself, I still have a soft spot for it - and so was intrigued to follow along over the past few weeks as Jagex, the developer for RuneScape, held a vote with their community for them to keep or remove Treasure Hunter (microtransactions) from RuneScape 3.

The vote passed (convincingly), and Jagex are now in the process of removing Treasure Hunter from the game.

Why should you care?

I think it’s a good example community management (and frankly PR), but also evidence that some players of live-service games are becoming sensitive (or more to the point, tired) to over-commercialisation through microtransactions.

In Jagex’s case, they managed to keep the players that opted out of RuneScape 3 (RS3) in their ecosystem through Old School RuneScape (OSRS) - a fork of the 2007 game, where 75% of the community needs to vote for something if it is to change.

But that’s a good/bad situation for Jagex. Although players still need a membership to access OSRS, so they’re still revenue generating - without evolution (like in RS3), it’s very unlikely they’ll be able to attract new fans, and with that brings a revenue ceiling and a stagnant game franchise.

And Jagex’s conundrum is not exclusively to just them; it’s a challenge every marketer or developer with a hyper-vocal but intensely loyal fanbase faces; balancing fan expectations (and idealism) with the commercial realities of operating and growing a brand/IP.

And so, what are the learnings I think you can learn from Jagex’s changes?

1 - Consistently communicate your thinking

Your vocal fanbase may be the first to voice their opposition to something - but left unchallenged/unfixed for too long, and those sentiments have the chance to spread throughout your fanbase until it becomes the general consensus - and then change is demanded, not requested.

Don’t let things fester. Meet issues head-on and communicate your decision-making process to your fans.

Most fans can understand a difference in opinion; all fans can’t understand silence.

2 - Nostalgia still sells - but it can’t stand in the way of evolution.

Jagex have hit the rewind back towards an era of the game that fans overwhelmingly prefer. It means a reset and rethink about monetisation, but does now open up the doors to re-acquire players that they’d lost previously.

No matter your industry, re-activating lapsed fans is a much more cost-effective way to find growth than acquiring new ones.

3 - The long-term health of your brand/IP is more important than short-term monetisation

Trust and connection take years to build, but can be lost overnight. Just because there is fandom doesn’t mean there isn’t price sensitivity, and poorly thought through monetisation strategies can and will fracture that relationship, damaging the brand.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, fans reward brands that listen, and aren’t afraid to course-correct if the sentiment isn’t there. Whether you run a sports property, entertainment IP, game studio or lifestyle brand, the same rules apply.

Loyalty is a two-way street, and your fans are eating, living and breathing your brand on a day-to-day basis; so take notice of their feedback, and factor it into your decision-making process.

Either way, it’s a brave move from Jagex - sacrificing short-term revenues in the hope of revitalising the game and attracting back their audience who are stowed away in OSRS - but from scouring the Reddit & YouTube comments, the overall consensus seems to be positive, so it’ll be interesting to follow along to see if they can turn that newly restored goodwill into growth.

In other news this week:

• Formula 1 integrates into Fortnite ahead of Las Vegas GP: read here.

• Havas reportedly exploring a deal to acquire WPP: read here.

• NFL weighs up scaling 32 equity platform: read here.

• Balenciaga integrates into PUBG: read here.

• Sponsored row campaign tools come to Fortnite: read here.

• iion research finds gaming delivers 20x more engagement than traditional digital channels: read here.

• Warner Bros. & Cosm extend partnership with Harry Potter film: read here.

• Disney exploring GenAI short-form UGC on Disney+: read here.

• ATP Media signs long-term deal with Sony for mobile app, AR and more: read here.

• German court rules OpenAI violated copyright laws by training ChatGPT on copyrighted music: read here.

• Rewarded Ads are now available to all ads eligible creators on Roblox: read here.

• The Snow League raises $15m to accelerate global expansion: read here.

• Supercell partners with Netflix for Stranger Things Brawl Stars integration: read here.

• Spin Master partners with Universal Pictures for Wicked for Good and Toca Boca collaboration: read here.

• Netflix launches Party Games: read here.

• Dagenham & Redbridge FC partner with OneFootball: read here.

• Peloton becomes Official Fitness Partner of Formula 1: read here.

• Swiss Football League released RFP for fantasy league partner: read here.

• Coca-Cola become partner of UEFA Euro 2028: read here.

• Rain acquires UpTop: 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 everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report, and if you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a colleague or friend!