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As Roblox marches toward its ultimate goal of 1 billion users, the company is finding new ways to share revenue with the developers who have made millions of games on the platform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
During the company\u2019s annual developers conference in San Francisco on Friday, CEO David Baszucki announced that creators of these games, which Roblox calls experiences, will be able to keep between 50 and 70 percent of revenue from their paid titles when they\u2019re purchased in real currency on desktop computers. That\u2019s significantly more than the roughly 30 percent revenue split Roblox <\/em>gives developers for purchases made with its native Robux currency inside freemium experiences. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The move could help incentivize the creation of more premium games as Roblox looks to attract older users<\/a>. Baszucki says the intention is to also bring these new economics to paid experiences bought on other devices, including mobile phones and consoles, though app store fees will likely get in the way on iOS and Android. He declined to share specifics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe believe we\u2019re setting the groundwork for a more expansive range of type of content on the platform,\u201d Baszucki tells me with regard to paid experiences. In addition, he says there\u2019s \u201ca huge effort within the company to support 100-plus-player open-world sports or battle royale-type experiences on low-end devices.\u201d Though he doesn\u2019t say it, that strategy is seemingly aimed at competing more directly with Epic Games\u2019 Fortnite<\/em>, which Roblox <\/em>still doesn\u2019t have a viable alternative to on its platform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another way Roblox is sharing money with creators is via a new affiliate link program. Those who are accepted into it will be able to earn up to 50 percent (capped at $100) of Robux purchases a new user makes within six months after joining from their sign-up link. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to make it a lot easier for creators to be comfortable leaning into heavy social marketing\u201d for the platform, says Baszucki of the new program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Roblox\u2019s <\/em>other big announcements at this year\u2019s developer conference include a new \u201cParty\u201d mode that lets up to six people communicate and move between experiences as a group. Starting early next year, it\u2019s <\/em>also partnering with Shopify to let developers sell real-world items through the platform. Revenue sharing terms of that arrangement haven\u2019t been disclosed yet. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n While Roblox\u2019s daily user base continued to steadily grow to 79.5 million last quarter, the company has come under fire in a recent Bloomberg <\/em>investigation titled \u201cRoblox\u2019s <\/em>Pedophile Problem.\u201d<\/a> After that story was published this summer, the government of Turkey banned Roblox<\/em><\/a>, citing its hosting of \u201cvirtual sex parties\u201d and \u201cviolent games\u201d played by children. Roblox <\/em>this week appealed the ban<\/a>, and Baszucki tells me, \u201cWe\u2019re optimistic and working with their government and their courts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He says that \u201cany incident on our platform is unacceptable\u201d and that trust and safety is the \u201ctop priority\u201d inside the company. \u201cOur AI gets better all the time. Our human review gets better all the time. So, from my standpoint, the quality of our safety systems has constantly been improving.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n