Xbox is taking cues from TikTok for user-generated content, says Phil Spencer

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Xbox could let you make your own content and monetize it in the future

Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has detailed some of the ways social media platform TikTok could influence the way Xbox handles user-generated content.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Spencer teased a view of the future where Xbox players can add their own content to existing games and potentially make money off their work.

"TikTok is about finding what somebody else has done, whether it's a music track that they use, or some kind of funny meme, and then people remix that with their own content on top, and it becomes this almost self-perpetuating thing," says Spencer. "I think we should see that in video games. I think we should try to open up those tools, and also retain value for everybody in the chain. We want creators to be able to monetize what they build, and see the value in that. And I don't think there should be any one genre that it's tied to."

Of course, Xbox already has games that let you make stuff - Minecraft and Fortnite's creative modes being among the most popular examples. But the idea of monetizing user-created content would certainly be new to Xbox platforms. Forza Horizon 5 will feature an entirely new mode called Event Lab where you can use a wide range of tools to make your own custom multiplayer races, as well as unique challenges, stunts, rulesets, and even new game modes. We have no reason to think Xbox will let players monetize their Forza Horizon 5 maps, but Event Lab could be the nearest example of Xbox's next step into user-generated content.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.