Roblox is Evolving - What’s new and What’s on the Horizon?
Roblox has announced a big change in its corporate policy. It's set to launch paid video games on its platform.
The company has announced that it's part of a larger effort to monetize the work done by game developers.
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As a part of the same effort, Roblox will allow the developers to sell physical merchandise related to their games.
This is an interesting development because it’s a business opportunity for many creators, and it shows that the business model Roblox has used so far may not work at scale. But is there a big change coming?
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What's Roblox?
Roblox is an online gaming platform launched in 2006. It has over 200 million monthly users. The platform is used to create and play games and foster a community among the players.
Over the years, Roblox has evolved significantly by adapting to changes in gaming tech.
It plans to do so in the future, especially when it comes to embracing a more immersive experience with better graphics and new in-game systems.
How Roblox Works
Roblox has a long-standing and successful business model offering free-to-play games. The business focus is on using in-game currency to buy and sell small cosmetic features for characters and tools used in the game.
Unlike most other gaming companies, Roblox relies on user-generated content to generate revenue.
The company said it paid more than $800 million to the creator community in the last 12 months. The move is, therefore, a departure from such a longstanding policy and a venture into new territories for Roblox.
Biggest Roblox Games
Some of the biggest Roblox games include:
- Adopt Me! is a simulation game where players can adopt, raise, and trade pets. The game has about 20 billion visits and 20 million players at its peak.
- Brookhaven is a role-playing game that allows players to live out different careers in a virtual city. It has over 8.4 billion visits and daily playtime of over 260 minutes.
- Tower of Hell is an obstacle course challenge famous for its difficulty. The game has 2 billion visits and 400.000 current players.
- MepCity is a "hangout game" that allows players to build houses, interact with each other, and play mini-games. It has 5.7 visits.
What Will Change?
The company will allow the developers to price some games (or experiences as they are called on the platform). The new feature will only be available on the desktop version of the games, but it will soon be introduced to mobile devices as well.
Roblox will support a higher revenue share for the creators of up to 70%, but it will vary with the price of the game.
By offering our new revenue shares for paid access experiences, we're giving our existing creators another way to earn on Roblox," said Enrico D'Angelo, vice president of economy at Roblox.
Roblox founder and CEO David Baszuc has also spoken about his long-term plans for the company. He said the dream is for the users to be able to move nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and digital objects across multiple platforms.
That dream is still a long way from being realized, but it shows that blockchain-based services will be a part of the Roblox ecosystem.
No Blockchain Integration News, Yet
The integration of blockchain into Roblox games has been a topic of online discussions and rumors for a while now, but the company hasn’t sent positive signals.
At this point, Roblox has made it clear that its official position is not to include blockchain as a payment option.
It does accept traditional payment methods, such as debit cards, bank accounts, and online wallets, as well as gift cards. The only way to use crypto for Roblox is to purchase gift cards at retailers that allow crypto payments.
XRP Fake News
For a while now, there has been fake news that Roblox has started accepting XRP payments. It was reported by all the big news outlets that BitPay has partnered with Roblox to integrate XRP as a payment system.
However, Roblox has denied this news as untrue, and has no plans to integrate crypto payments at all, even BTC at this point. In the end, it was too good to be true.
Never Say Never to Blockchain
However, the industry is evolving all the time, and technologies like blockchain and crypto, will bring new frontiers for Roblox.
In time, they won't be able to resist the changes in public attitude and the usefulness of crypto, especially among newer and younger generations who are tech-savvy. If or when that's the case, Roblox probably won't limit its users to one crypto only.
Given how easy it is to use resources like Webopedia to purchase Bitcoin and how popular Ethereum is for smart contracts, it's possible that Roblox will eventually allow the use of these cryptocurrencies.
Other Announcements
Physical Merchandise
Roblox has also announced that it's entered into partnerships with companies that sell physical merchandise to accommodate developers offering tie-ins to their games.
At this point, it's known that there are contracts with Walmart and Elf Beauty that will sell toys and memorabilia related to Roblox games.
Roblox has also partnered with Shopify to allow individual creators to sell physical merchandise directly from their games early next year.
It's not yet known which products will be available via this channel, but there are many opportunities game creators will seize on.
AI Content Sharing
As a part of the same press release, Roblox has also announced a new AI feature. The company announced that it's working on a 3D foundational model that will power generative creation on its platform. The model will be open-source and multimodal.
"A creator could say I want to create a world that is in the Scottish Highlands with castles and a stormy day, with a dragon background, and I want all of this in a steampunk steam style. And then the output will be the full scene creation," Bronstein said.
Roblox has also emphasized that the goal of the new AI model isn't to replace the content created by actual users but to make the creative channels available to more users.
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To Sum Up
Roblox has announced major changes in its approach to generating revenue. It will start selling games on its platform.
The games made by the developers using the Roblox platform will be available for purchase on desktop devices first.
Until now, Roblox was known for its free-to-play games and making profits from in-game purchases only.
The company has also announced a new content-sharing system that will utilize AI, and it plans to start selling physical products tied to its games. Other stuff is on the horizon as well, and we cannot write off integration of Blockchain in the near and distant future.
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