George Tsagkarakis
Decentraland has launched the Creator Fund, a rewards program for indie creators and small teams who build games in its social world. A $30,000 Beta Season pool starts paying out from November 15, 2026, split among creators according to how players engage with their games. Opt-in is open now through Creator Hub.
Decentraland MANA $0.07047 ▼ -4.6% is a free social gaming world for adults, playable on computer and phone through its official desktop and mobile apps. Players move between games and hang out with each other. The new fund pays the people who make those games based on the players they bring in and keep.
How the Beta Season works
The Beta Season runs from November 15 to December 31, 2026. Its $30,000 Season Pool is split into three cycles of $10,000 USDC each:
- Cycle 1: November 15 to 30
- Cycle 2: December 1 to 15
- Cycle 3: December 16 to 31
At the end of each cycle, a creator’s share depends on 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
Rewards go out in USDC within two weeks after each cycle closes. The top games and their rewards are posted to a public leaderboard, and each creator sees their own detailed results in Creator Hub. The Decentraland Foundation and DCL Regenesis Labs fund the pool together.
Decentraland says the Creator Fund is not a grant. Grants support projects while they are being built. The fund rewards games that are already live.
Who can join, and the catches
Creators must be 18 or older and own the Decentraland LAND, NAME or World where their game is deployed. The game has to sit in Genesis City or a public World. Worlds that need a password, an invitation or an NFT to enter are excluded.
Joining means downloading Creator Hub, opening the Earn tab and signing the Program Terms with the wallet that owns the LAND, NAME or World. One opt-in covers every eligible place that wallet owns. Creators also need to set a Payout Wallet in Creator Hub. If none is set within 7 days after a cycle ends, that cycle’s reward is lost. A game counts from the start of each cycle as long as it stays live and public.
Only real players aged 18 and up on Decentraland’s official desktop and mobile apps count toward rewards. Every game is reviewed for bots and fake activity, and visits from the creator or their collaborators don’t count. The full details are in the Program Rules.
Because the pool is fixed, each creator’s payout depends on how other games perform in the same cycle. The amounts listed are pool totals, not guaranteed earnings for any one game.
Building tools and other income
Creator Hub is free, and games publish to Decentraland on desktop and mobile with no engine license or server costs. Avatars and social features are built into the platform. Decentraland also offers the official Decentraland SDK Skills, 28 ready-made instruction sets that teach AI coding tools such as Claude Code or Cursor how to build for the platform. The skills cover setting up a first scene through adding multiplayer and publishing to a World, and Decentraland says TypeScript knowledge is no longer needed to start.
The fund sits alongside other ways creators 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 on Shop sales goes to the Decentraland DAO’s community fund. Decentraland says it has no corporate parent: it is built by the Decentraland Foundation, a nonprofit, and DCL Regenesis Labs, a nonprofit funded by the Decentraland DAO. Neither takes a cut of creator earnings, according to the announcement.
Decentraland says its programs paid more than $660,000 to creators in support, rewards and funding in 2025, including open calls and contests around Art Week and the Music Festival. More than $349,000 has been paid out so far in 2026.
Game jams and recent winners
The next game jam, GAME OVER: 2026, starts in late November. Its theme is Final Boss, and creators are asked to build a final level with a boss fight, competing for an $8,000 prize pool.
It follows the FriendZone Buildathon, where builders submitted 65 social game projects for the Decentraland Mobile App. That event also had an $8,000 prize pool, paid in MANA and split across five winning projects. First place went to Battle Zone, a multiplayer plane-combat game.
What the organizers say
“Getting paid repeatedly makes you feel like you’re actually building something professionally,” said stom, described in the announcement as a Decentraland creator since 2021.
Esteban Ordano, named 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, named 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.”
The Beta is the first season. Decentraland says plans for future seasons in 2027 will be shared after the Beta Season ends on December 31. Full details are at decentraland.org/creator-fund.
