Roblox parent company Roblox Corporation shared some fascinating news today at Roblox Developers Conference. The company announced that developers making “paid access experiences” (think premium games) on Roblox will soon be able to earn a higher revenue share than developers making free-to-play games.
This increase applies to games that are purchased with “real currency value” on desktop. If you make a game priced at $9.99, $29.99, or $49.99, your revenue share will respectively rise to 50 percent, 60 percent, and 70 percent.
The company says it has plans to expand the increase to “other supported devices” in the future.
The announcement is packed in the middle of a slew of other economic updates, including an upcoming partnership with Shopify and a new creator affiliate program that will reward Roblox developers that bring new users to the platform. A specific revenue-share increase for premium developers is worthy of pause however, as it could mark a major shift in what developers make on Roblox.
Premium games understandably have struggled on newer platforms that also facilitate free-to-play games supported by ads or microtransactions. After all, especially for a younger-skewing audience, nothing beats “free” when it comes to trying out a game.
That means Roblox developers have had plenty of incentive to push for retention-driving features and eschew other types of games that aren’t as economically viable. The fact that all transactions were first processed through Roblox’s premium currency Robux didn’t help either.
Now, being able to take up to 70 percent of the revenue from someone buying your game brings the platform close to (but not fully, with those lower rates for cheaper games) in parity with revenue share on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Nintendo store.
Do these changes address concerns developers have with Roblox?
Changes like this could go a long way to addressing concerns developers have had with how Roblox Corporation splits revenue with developers. Those working in the free-to-play space won’t benefit from this change right away, but now developers could consider spinning up studios to make premium games with a more reliable business model in mind.
That said, developers worried about the platform’s ability to protect young players from abusers and predators won’t find any major news in today’s RDC announcements.