Roblox announces new ways for creators to earn and teases generative AI projects at an annual developer conference
The business is starting a new program to give creators a more significant cut of the money from paid desktop activities. For experiences that cost $9.99, creators will now get 50% of the funds; for experiences that cost $29.99, they will get 60%; and for experiences that cost $49.99, they will get 70%. Currently, creators get about 25% of the money from paid events. This change will give them a lot more of the money.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Manuel Bronstein, chief product officer at Roblox, said that the company thinks this change will make more traditional game creators want to bring their games to the platform.
It was also announced that the company is teaming up with Shopify to let artists sell physical goods in their experiences. Roblox will test this integration with a small group of artists, brands, and e-commerce partners later this year.
Roblox will soon release a “Price Optimization” tool to help developers find the best price for in-game sales. This is another way that Roblox plans to help creators. The tool may sometimes suggest that developers lower the price of an item to make more sales, which is good for both the developer and the players.
Also, the business will try out regional pricing suggestions so that developers can make their rates fit the needs of specific markets.
Making Creative AI Creation Possible
In terms of AI, Roblox said it is building a 3D model that will be the basis for creative creation on its platform. The model will be open source and multimodal, so people can use text, video, and prompts to make 3D material.
Someone who makes games could say, “I want to make a world in the Scottish Highlands with castles, a stormy day, and dragons. I want it all to be in a steampunk style.” After that, the result will be the whole scene,” Bronstein said.
He said that generative AI is mainly working on pictures and movies right now, not making things in 3D. However, Roblox needs 3D things, so if you see a tree, it needs to look like a tree and be seen from all sides.
Bronstein said that Roblox isn’t trying to replace creativity but wants to make it easier for more people to make games. For example, you might be a great programmer but struggle to meet the artistic needs of making games. The 3D foundational model is meant to make it easy for anyone to start using the platform and help teams already using it make games faster.
That said, getting a result doesn’t mean you have to use it immediately. Bronstein noted that developers will probably tweak and change the content that the AI makes.
Roblox also announced that it will release a new technology called “Harmony” that will help developers make their games work better on various devices and network situations.
Adding More People to Roblox
Roblox already has social tools that let users talk to each other, but the company is adding more ways for them to do so.
First, it’s adding “Party,” a new way for friends to move around Roblox in a private chat. A person younger than 13 years old can text chat. Older people can use live chat. Anyone at a party can talk to anyone else, even if they are playing a different game. They can ask each other if they want to play the same game.
Later this year, the company will also offer forums where users can share comments, discuss gameplay, and report any problems.
Roblox will add new features like “What’s Playing” and “Music Charts” so that its site becomes a place where people find new music. These features will let people find popular songs by new artists. Roblox also wants to work with the music distribution service DistroKid so that artists can share and upload their songs to the site.
Roblox wants 10% of all the money made from gaming content sold worldwide through its ecosystem. All of the new features it announced today are part of that plan. Even though Roblox didn’t say when it plans to reach this goal, the company is confident that its changes will help it reach the mark.