By Sagar V. Mankar KRAFTON’s upcoming life simulation game, inZOI, is setting the stage for a dynamic gaming experience by allowing modders to customize characters and expand its world through user-generated content (UGC).
This move aims to make inZOI a strong competitor to its well-established rival, The Sims 4, even before its official release.
To help achieve this, KRAFTON has partnered with Overwolf to launch an official modding program for inZOI.
Overwolf is well-known for enabling developers/modders/UGC creators to create in-game apps, mods, and overlays for PC games. Through their platform CurseForge, which they acquired from Twitch in 2020, Overwolf offers a comprehensive Software Development Kit (SDK) that allows developers to create custom apps and mods using familiar web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Additionally, Overwolf provides APIs that interact directly with game data, making it easy for modders to share their creations on the Overwolf Appstore, where millions of users can access them.
This partnership is a familiar move for Overwolf, which launched its Sims 4 hub in November 2022. Currently, The Sims 4 is the platform’s third most popular game, with more than 50,000 UGC projects and 1 billion downloads.
It also supports modding to popular titles like “League of Legends,” “Fortnite,” “Minecraft,” “PUBG,” “World of Warcraft,” and more.
Following a similar model, Overwolf will enable UGC creators to monetize their inZOI content. In 2023 alone, Overwolf paid out $201 million to in-game content creators across its platform.
The inZOI modding program will empower Overwolf modders to create and share mods, helping to expand inZOI’s world. Overwolf will also establish a curated space on CurseForge for hosting inZOI mods.
Hyungjun Kim, the Producer & Director of inZOI, shared his excitement about the partnership, saying:
“inZOI is committed to making mod creation easier and encouraging artistic expression from players. By partnering with CurseForge, we are providing a dedicated platform for inZOI mods, ensuring that our community has the best tools and resources to bring their creative visions to life. This collaboration reflects our dedication to building a vibrant modding community within inZOI.”
Uri Marchand, CEO of Overwolf, also expressed his excitement, noting:
UGC is the present and the future of gaming, driven by a community of passionate creators and players who want to shape their experiences and make gameplay their own. inZOI is the perfect environment for UGC to thrive and we are thrilled to partner with KRAFTON to provide safe, curated modding experiences into highly anticipated inZOI from launch.
inZOI, powered by Unreal Engine 5, is designed to give players full control over their gameplay experience. The game emphasizes user-generated content, allowing players to change any part of their world and create unique stories. With lifelike visuals, inZOI offers features such as Karma, where players’ past actions affect their future, City Edit for controlling weather and city billboards, and Group Activities for shared experiences. Since its announcement, inZOI has teased several gameplay features, including driveable cars, and tarot card readings, all of which have caught the attention of many players.
To further engage the community, KRAFTON is running a limited-time trial/demo of inZOI’s character creation feature, Character Studio, on Steam. This feature will be available worldwide from August 21st to August 26th, allowing players to create their dream avatars with over 250 customization options. Notably, avatars created during the demo will remain usable when the game fully launches.
While inZOI’s official release date is still unknown, the game recently launched its Steam page, suggesting a possible release in late 2024. Fans can expect more updates at the upcoming Gamescom event, where inZOI will be featured with other Krafton games.
For more information, visit the official press release. And remember to subscribe to Gaming Foodle for more news!