GamesBeat Next: Why creators are the future of the gaming industry

The overarching theme of this year’s GamesBeat Next conference is “Playing the Edge” — in other words, the technologies, innovations and initiatives sitting at the edge of the gaming industry that have potential to become industry game-changers. User-generated content is one of the areas with the most promise, says Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer at GamesBeat. He spoke with Nicola Sebastiani, chief content officer at The Sandbox, during a special preview session for the conference, about how developers can power brands and creators with immersive experiences and tools.

“We are at a critical time in gaming right now,” Sebastiani says. “We are entering what I call or what I like to think of as a creator economy, where UGC is taking over and where everybody can just start a studio and build and make something and ideally make a living with it. You see that it really impacted the video industry during the past decade — think of YouTube — and I think we’re in a great position to be successful in this tidal wave.”