On the annual Roblox Builders Convention, the corporate introduced on Friday a collection of modifications coming to the platform within the subsequent few months and years. Most notably, Roblox is including extra methods for creators to earn cash by way of their experiences, and the corporate is unveiling a mission that may energy generative AI creation on the platform.
The corporate is introducing a brand new program that may give creators a better share of income for his or her paid experiences on the desktop. Creators will now obtain 50% of the income for paid experiences that value $9.99, 60% for experiences that value $29.99 and 70% for experiences that value $49.99. The change marks a major enhance in income sharing, as creators presently earn about 25% of the income for his or her paid experiences.
Roblox chief product officer Manuel Bronstein advised TechCrunch in an interview that the corporate believes this alteration will encourage extra conventional recreation builders to carry their video games to the platform.
The corporate additionally introduced that it’s partnering with Shopify to permit creators to promote bodily merchandise straight inside their experiences. Roblox plans to pilot this integration later this yr with choose creators, manufacturers and e-commerce companions.
To additional assist creators, Roblox goes to roll out a “Price Optimization” device that may run checks to assist builders determine the perfect worth for in-experience purchases. In some circumstances, the device could recommend that builders decrease the value of an merchandise to get extra gross sales, benefiting each the developer and gamers.
In the identical vein, the corporate goes to begin experimenting with regional pricing suggestions to permit builders to tailor their costs to native markets.
Powering generative AI creation
By way of AI, Roblox introduced that it’s engaged on a 3D foundational mannequin that may energy generative creation on its platform. The mannequin might be open supply and multimodal and permit creators to generate 3D content material utilizing textual content, video and prompts.
“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 stated.
He famous that generative AI is presently targeted on photos and movies, not 3D creation. However, in Roblox, you want 3D objects, so in the event you see a tree, it must behave like a tree and in addition be seen from all sides.
Bronstein famous that Roblox isn’t making an attempt to interchange the artistic course of however as an alternative focuses on enabling extra folks to develop and create video games. As an example, it’s possible you’ll be an amazing developer however battle with the inventive necessities for recreation creation. The 3D foundational mannequin goals to make it simpler for anyone to get began on the platform, whereas additionally serving to present groups velocity up the method of recreation growth.
Plus, simply since you get an output, doesn’t imply that you’ll implement it straight away. Builders will seemingly fine-tune and modify the AI-generated content material, Bronstein stated.
As well as, Roblox revealed that it’s rolling out a brand new expertise known as “Harmony” that may assist builders robotically optimize their experiences for various units and community situations.
Making Roblox extra social
Whereas Roblox already has social options that permit customers to work together with one another, the corporate is introducing new methods for customers to take action.
For starters, it’s including “Party,” which is a brand new approach for a bunch of pals to maneuver round Roblox collectively as a bunch in a personal chat. If a consumer is underneath the age of 13, they’ll chat through textual content. If a consumer is older, they’ll use voice chat. Customers in a Occasion can chat with one another even when they’re taking part in totally different video games, and if all of them wish to play the identical recreation, they’ll ship invitations to one another.
The corporate can also be introducing boards later this yr to offer customers a devoted area to share suggestions, talk about gameplay and report any points they encounter.
To make its platform a vacation spot for folks to find new music, Roblox will roll out a brand new “What’s Playing” and “Music Charts” function the place folks will be capable to discover trending songs from breakout artists. Roblox can also be planning an integration with music distribution service DistroKid to offer artists a solution to add and share their music on the platform.
All the options introduced right now are a part of Roblox’s bold purpose of getting 10% of all gaming content material income worldwide circulation by way of its ecosystem. Though the corporate didn’t present a timeline for when it goals to succeed in this purpose, Roblox believes the modifications it’s introducing will assist it obtain the milestone.
