WorldBuilder Summit Debuts As First Event For In-Game Creators
A new, in-person conference hopes to champion those involved in one of the fastest-growing sectors in gaming and entertainment: creator-built virtual worlds.
Officially announced today (December 19), the WorldBuilder Summit positions itself as the first event explicitly dedicated to the ecosystem of creators, studios, platforms, brands, and investors building interactive worlds inside platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, and Overwolf, which paid out a record $300 million to creators in 2025.
The inaugural summit will take place at the London West Hollywood Hotel in California on April 23, 2026, and is organized by the team behind Buffer Festival, the Toronto-based digital video festival that ran annually for a decade.
While user-generated in-game experiences generate billions in revenue each year and regularly extend their reach and popularity beyond traditional games, the team behind the WorldBuilder Summit believes there are still countless opportunities for businesses, brands, franchises, and individuals to seize upon. As such, it hopes to bring together creators who often work independently with companies, platforms, and investors keen to connect with the industry, under the umbrella of a single, cross-platform event.
The WorldBuilder Summit program will focus on monetization, creator tools, discovery, partnerships, and the best ways to work with existing gaming IPs. The goal is to treat virtual worldbuilding not just as game development, but as a broader business discipline that blends storytelling, community management, live operations, and commerce.
Scott Benzie, the executive director of WorldBuilder Summit, said keynote speeches and hands-on workshops are already planned, “tailored to real-world business needs from creating profitable worlds and securing brand deals.”
He added: “The future of storytelling is immersive, iterative, and playable. Worldbuilders are at the forefront of breathing new life into beloved franchises and inventing new cultural phenomena. The WorldBuilder Summit is entirely creator-first and cross-platform to form an inclusive environment where builders can freely learn from one another about disruptive design and monetization.”
The Summit has also named its first keynote speakers: Story Kitchen co-founders Dmitri Johnson and Mike Goldberg. Story Kitchen, formerly known as dj2 Entertainment, specializes in adapting games into film and television and is currently developing a feature adaptation of Grow a Garden, its free-to-play Roblox experience that has surpassed 33 billion plays.
In a joint statement, Johnson and Goldberg said: “We’re participating in the WorldBuilder Summit because we truly believe the next generation of great storytellers is emerging directly from games, both traditional titles and the rapidly expanding UGC ecosystem.
“Creators now have more tools than ever to bring their ideas to life, and that momentum is reshaping not just games, but the entire entertainment landscape. We’re excited to join a conference that puts creators and their stories at the center of the conversation.”
WorldBuilder Summit has also unveiled a founding board that brings together names from gaming, film, marketing, and technology. Members include:
Nic Hill, co-founder and head of interactive at Sawhorse Productions;
Bonnka Lim, vice president of marketing and digital games at Hasbro;
Brendan Stock, CEO and co-founder of Chartis;
Erika N Ewing, senior director of interactive ventures and video games at Lionsgate;
Matthew Stein, vice president of digital marketing at Warner Bros Entertainment; and
Jo Redfern, founder and CEO of Futrhood Media.
Hill, whose work at Sawhorse focuses on interactive and immersive brand experiences — such as the creation of Wicked’s Shiz University within Roblox — said: “The UGC gaming and immersive marketing space is exploding, and now more than ever, we need a home where creators, technologists, and marketers can learn from each other.”
Redfern, a former head of brand at BBC Children’s & Education, added: “I fully believe that we need to encourage, celebrate, and nurture the next generation of storytellers as they become the next leaders in entertainment. I can’t think of a time, during my career at least, when change has been so fast or quite as exciting as it feels right now.”
Tickets for the WorldBuilder Summit are now available, with attendance open to creators, studios, brands, platforms, tool providers, and investors. While there are already plenty of things lined up for the event, organizers promise a few more big announcements in the months leading up to the big day.