Decentraland Opens $30,000 Creator Fund Beta to Pay Indie Game Makers for Player Engagement
Decentraland has set up the Creator Fund, a program that rewards indie creators and small teams for the games they build in its social world. The Beta Season pool is $30,000, with payouts beginning November 15, 2026. Creators split the money based on how players engage with their games, and opt-in is already open through Creator Hub.
Decentraland has set up the Creator Fund, a program that rewards indie creators and small teams for the games they build in its social world. The Beta Season pool is $30,000, with payouts beginning November 15, 2026. Creators split the money based on how players engage with their games, and opt-in is already open through Creator Hub.
Decentraland is a free social gaming world for adults. It runs on computer and phone through official desktop and mobile apps, where players hop between games and spend time with each other. Under the new fund, the makers of those games get paid according to the players they attract and hold on to.
How the Beta Season works
The Beta Season lasts from November 15 to December 31, 2026. The $30,000 Season Pool is divided into three cycles, each worth $10,000 USDC:
- Cycle 1: November 15 to 30
- Cycle 2: December 1 to 15
- Cycle 3: December 16 to 31
When a cycle ends, each creator’s share is calculated from three measures:
- New players: people who join Decentraland through that game
- Active playtime: time players actively spend in the game
- Returning players: players who come back to it
Payments arrive in USDC within two weeks of a cycle closing. A public leaderboard lists the top games and what they earned, while each creator can check their own detailed results in Creator Hub. The pool is funded jointly by the Decentraland Foundation and DCL Regenesis Labs.
According to Decentraland, the Creator Fund is not a grant. Grants back projects during development, and this fund pays out for games that are already live.
Who can join, and the catches
Creators have to be 18 or older and must own the Decentraland LAND, NAME or World hosting their game. That game needs to be in Genesis City or a public World. Any World that requires a password, an invitation or an NFT to get in is not eligible.
To sign up, creators download Creator Hub, go to the Earn tab and sign the Program Terms using the wallet that holds the LAND, NAME or World. A single opt-in applies to every eligible place owned by that wallet. A Payout Wallet also has to be set in Creator Hub, and a creator who hasn’t set one within 7 days of a cycle ending forfeits that cycle’s reward. Games are counted from the start of each cycle provided they remain live and public.
Rewards are based only on real players aged 18 and over using Decentraland’s official desktop and mobile apps. Each game is checked for bots and fake activity, and visits by the creator or their collaborators are excluded. The Program Rules carry the full details.
The pool is fixed, so what any creator receives depends on how the other games do in the same cycle. The figures given are totals for the pool and do not guarantee earnings for any single game.
Building tools and other income
Creator Hub costs nothing, and games go live on Decentraland’s desktop and mobile versions without engine license fees or server bills. Avatars and social features come built into the platform. Decentraland also provides the official Decentraland SDK Skills: 28 ready-made instruction sets that show AI coding tools such as Claude Code or Cursor how to build for the platform. They run from setting up a first scene to adding multiplayer and publishing to a World, and Decentraland says creators no longer need to know TypeScript to get started.
The fund is one of several ways creators can earn on the platform:
- Shop sales of Wearables and Emotes, where creators keep 97.5% of each sale
- 2.5% of every resale of their items on the Marketplace
- 100% of tips from the community
- Buildathons, game jams and seasonal contests with short, themed challenges
- The DCL Regenesis Labs Grants Program for bigger projects
- Creator Success, an application-only program launched in Q3 2026 that gives staged funding, starting with up to $4,100 for a first playable version
- Commissioned work for brands and communities
- In-game creator purchases, due in Q1 2027
The 2.5% fee taken on Shop sales goes into the Decentraland DAO’s community fund. Decentraland says it has no corporate parent. It is built by the Decentraland Foundation, a nonprofit, and by DCL Regenesis Labs, a nonprofit funded by the Decentraland DAO. The announcement states that neither one takes a share of what creators earn.
By Decentraland’s count, its programs paid creators more than $660,000 in support, rewards and funding during 2025, a figure that includes open calls and contests tied to Art Week and the Music Festival. So far in 2026, payouts have passed $349,000.
Game jams and recent winners
GAME OVER: 2026, the next game jam, kicks off in late November. The theme is Final Boss: creators are asked to make a final level with a boss fight, and they’ll compete for an $8,000 prize pool.
Before that came the FriendZone Buildathon, which drew 65 social game projects built for the Decentraland Mobile App. It also carried an $8,000 prize pool, paid in MANA and shared among five winning projects. Battle Zone, a multiplayer plane-combat game, took first place.
What the organizers say
“Getting paid repeatedly makes you feel like you’re actually building something professionally,” said stom, whom the announcement describes as a Decentraland creator since 2021.
Esteban Ordano, identified in the announcement as Executive Director and co-founder of Decentraland, said: “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.”
Gino Cingolani, identified as Executive Director of DCL Regenesis Labs, said: “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.”
This Beta is the program’s first season. Decentraland says it will share plans for 2027 seasons once the Beta Season closes on December 31. Full details are available at decentraland.org/creator-fund.
