A new industry conference is launching this year to build connections between brands and creators in the user-generated content space.
UGCon — it’s pronounced “UGC Con” — is slated to take place at Topgolf Las Vegas on May 21 and 22. The goal of the new conference is to put a spotlight on the growing medium of user-generated content (UGC) across gaming platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, as well as the rise of brand and intellectual property integrations inside these platforms’ virtual worlds, with UGCon intentionally following after Licensing Expo to capture the interest of brand and IP reps who are already in Las Vegas for the larger conference.
UGCon is the brainchild of Trent Hensler and Ben Sarraille, a team of veteran UGC dealmakers whose strategic advisory Makeshift helps brands and IP holders like Netflix and Lego connect with top creators in the space. Hensler and Sarraille were inspired to host the conference by creators’ growing interest in private dinners and smaller events they held around other industry conferences over the past year, including a mixer during the week of GDC.
“At GDC last week, we hosted 120 or 130 people, and I was running around the entire time, talking to a Roblox dev or a Minecraft dev or a Fortnite person, and just putting them next to the head of gaming at some big Fortune 500 company,” said Sarraille, who clarified in an interview with GamesBeat that UGCon is a standalone venture that is not officially tied to Makeshift’s user-generated content business.
Hensler and Sarraille have deep roots within the UGC space and creator economy, with Hensler cutting his teeth as a developer at the Minecraft server network Minetime and Sarraille previously spending two years as the creative lead working on gaming products at MrBeast’s company. Their background informs their shared interest in putting creators front and center at UGCon — and in decreasing the presence at the event of so-called “middlemen,” or agencies whose business primarily exists to mediate the relationships between brands and creators.
“Seeing more people in person and building those relationships is really valuable. And what we hear from our clients a lot is that they’re told by the agencies that they shouldn’t work directly with creators, or that the agency is necessary, because the creator is too difficult or unprofessional to work with,” Hensler said in an interview with GamesBeat. “They’re young, but we think that just isn’t true.”
Hensler and Sarraille believe UGCon’s strong focus on creators helps it stand apart from other conferences that have arisen over the past year to meet the needs of the growing UGC creator economy, from the WorldBuilder Summit to GeekOut Creator Con 2026. UGCon is not offering any sponsored panels to potential partners, and instead plans to make money through general sponsorships, as well as by allowing interested parties to rent out Topgolf bays for meetings. Tickets are priced at $249, with UGCon selling two-day passes at a loss to prevent cost from being a barrier to entry, per Hensler.
“Right now, for a lot of people at conferences, they’re like, ‘I don’t like going to the panels — I just talk to people on the outside,’” Sarraille said. “So, now, the conversations outside of the panels are kind of more the panels than the actual panels are, and we need to bring panels back.”
We need to bring panels back.
Ben Sarraille
UGCon also differs from platform-operated UGC creator conventions like Unreal Fest and Roblox Developers Conference in that its focus is cross-platform, featuring major players from all three of the major UGC platforms — Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft.
“We’re super excited about the event bringing together creators from across all of UGC, and meeting many of the people that share our passion and origin stories in person for the first time,” said Rafael Fritsche, the co-founder and CEO of the prominent Minecraft creator studio Spark Universe, in a message to GamesBeat.
So far, UGCon’s website boasts attendees from leading UGC creators and studios across the space, including Voldex, Spark Universe and Twin Atlas, in addition to brand and IP holder representatives from Atlantic Records, J.P. Morgan and Sega. Hensler and Sarraille declined to share details on specific UGCon speakers or sponsors, but said they are currently negotiating several sponsorships and finalizing event programming.
“Makeshift has been an amazing partner to us, and as the top Fortnite studio, we knew we had to be there,” said Zack Billingham, the partnerships lead at the prominent Fortnite creator studio Good Gamers, in a message to GamesBeat. “Looking forward to meeting brands that see the power of UGC and discuss how we can help them win in gaming.”