The Roblox Corporation recently announced a series of updates to its gaming and development platform. The main change is a new policy that allows developers to sell paid games on the platform for real money, expanding beyond the virtual currency “Robux” that was previously used.
Roblox has also partnered with Shopify, allowing players to buy physical merchandise from within the digital experiences. These updates aim to grow the Roblox community and attract more developers, according to David Baszucki, the company’s CEO and founder.
The announcements were made during the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California.
According to a post on the Roblox website, developers will soon be able to set prices for paid experiences in real currency on desktop, with plans to extend this to other platforms later.
Revenue Sharing
Developers will also have the opportunity to earn a higher revenue share with the new program, based on a tiered scheme depending on pricing. Baszucki mentioned that experiences priced at $9.99, $29.99, and $49.99 will receive “50%, 60%, and 70% revenue share, respectively.”
The Shopify integration is expected to launch early next year, with plans for further expansion, as mentioned in the blog:
“We plan to integrate with various e-commerce platforms, starting with Shopify. This will allow creators to sell physical goods within a Roblox experience. We will pilot this later this year with selected creators, brands, and e-commerce partners.”
Roblox saw a surge in stocks during the COVID era as children, the platform’s primary users, turned to it for social gaming. However, in recent years, the stocks have dropped by about 40%.
Source: Microsoft
Currency Diversity
Diversifying the platform’s economy towards real currency could be a game-changer for the gaming industry. Companies like 2K and Electronic Arts have predominantly used virtual currencies in their games to maintain control over transactions. Roblox’s shift towards a more traditional marketplace might indicate consumer fatigue with unnecessary currency conversions within closed ecosystems. Moving back to real currency could motivate developers to create more paid experiences on the platform.
In the broader Web3 gaming community, blockchain integration has addressed these issues by giving consumers access to experiences across different platforms.
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