Sorry for the late reply, was up late and had to get up early this morning and couldn’t stay up late.
To your point, I feel like that will flip the script and make it, so Robux is useless and USD is powerful, which judging by the countless Robux items that Roblox has to offer would be kind of useless for starting a game and having monetization for Robux whenever the Creator Store is only using USD and they are soon to be expanding to models, etc.
At that point, I feel like that will give people more of a reason for people to have stuff they can buy for USD in their games, so they can afford it. Not to mention, what if they can’t (reasons already explained)?
To this point, the problem will lie on, we won’t make enough to ever match those prices because of the fees that Roblox puts on us, not to mention, what if a person can’t do USD for various reasons (reasons that have already been discussed and are still a problem)? What do we do then?
Right now, if I spent money on plugins for Roblox Studio that I have now, I would probably be at around ~$-100 to $-200 depending on the plugins’ cost (plugins cost are not set in stone, so it basically is a rough estimate)
Relight was posted 2 days ago, it would be way too obvious to prop it up to the front page immediately. The algorithm for the plugin marketplace is obviously truly broken, it cannot be denied, there are things on the marketplace that should not be there, page 5 for example has an animation stealer: https://create.roblox.com/store/asset/8069283885/Animation-Stealer-V2?pageNumber=5&pagePosition=26
Another animation stealer disguised as a spoofer on the page 2:
There is preferential treatment as you have been invited and been to RDC, and most likely, due to the popularity of your plugin and your statement saying you are a Roblox “business partner” you are probably in a group that gives you a direct communication line to Roblox representatives. Regardless of this, it’s not a big deal that you do have preferential treatment, as it is expected, but inherently it gives you a bias.
The issue everyone has with this update is that the execution lacked the foundation needed for it to work. I outline some of things that should be in place already, but aren’t:
The algorithm is broken for the front page of plugins, there is no form of categorization for optimizing your search for plugins, sometimes plugins don’t show up without a direct search.
The API’s for plugins are a nightmare to work with, and some are not very well documented.
They’ve mentioned that they are adding Creator Store Analytics, however that should have happened before this release happened, currently there is no way to tell your sales data without downloading your previous transaction history and filtering for that specific plugin, which is a huge hassle considering the previous method directly told you the sales figure. If you are transitioning to a new market type it is essential that the data should be there to look at when it happens.
Piracy is now more than ever going to be rampant when it comes to plugins, especially due to the nature of the consumers (a lot of them may be programmers) who are getting your plugins, at this moment it takes one line of code to dump the entire source of the plugin, and if you aren’t a programmer, it can be found as an rbxm in the file system, so there is no way to secure your plugin if you are selling it for currency, and you may say “that’s why we have DMCA complaints” however Roblox has no system for detecting pirated local plugins.
Giving developers 90% of the proceeds requires a different currency, otherwise you’ll get an influx of burner plugins used for Robux tax evasion. Which I think a lot of people aren’t getting here, so no Robux is not an option, sorry guys.
All and all this isn’t a bad change, however it is missing everything before it that needs to be there in order for it to prove successful.
Edit: I also forgot to mention, at this moment there is no way to have plugins being sold from a group, this is also really disappointing that it was not included in the release or mentioned at all, now I’m forced to make it free, otherwise I lose my whole userbase
I was really surprised to see that people were unhappy about this update. Lots of the fantastic plugins I use were purchased on Gumroad and not here. It did not even occur to me how this would restrict younger developers until I saw the comments!
How was the previous system fair for Roblox developers? A significant amount of the money made from plugins was taken by Roblox through tax and DevEx. It was not fair at all to them.
You should always do your research before buying a product. If you are spending $5 dollars for a, “not very well made plugin,” that is no ones fault but your own. Take a look at this thread:
Plugins are only there to assist the development process. Many professional game developer companies will not use plugins or will create their own internal ones. In most Computer Sciences courses you will take in an academic setting, you won’t be using frameworks or plugins to create your code, because they want to teach you fundamentals without the helpful nature of libraries or plugins. You should be able to create a game just fine without plugins, it is not removing an essential part of studio at all.
What about the indie plugin developers not making a fair amount of money from their work? The creator ecosystem is larger than just games. This change should help incentive talented developers to spend time developing high-quality plugins. I am confident that this update will bring us many great plugins from more developers we haven’t seen yet.
I am not trying to dig at you personally, but you have a perspective that I see a lot of developers have on this topic. The “doom and gloom” of Roblox updates so to speak. Everyone keeps saying “bad Roblox update” to changes, but the changes always work out fine. I think it’s healthy to say your concerns and I agree that you have some valid arguments in your post, but overall I think this update is good so far and we should let the system play out and re-evaluate in the future.
App Store Regulations (Roblox doesn’t want to be kicked off like fortnite)
Legal Regulations (Theres alot of them for subscriptions)
It’s generally not feasible to run a subscription with Robux as you lose out on the automatic payout
Creator Store purchases are USD only for a reason;
Robux is not an option as this will incentivize undercutting and the various other issues brought up here
More open to developers coming onto the platform for the first time (especially brands, which roblox sorely needs to stay afloat)
There are reasons for why these two are priced for USD. These reasons do not apply to the various other items on Roblox, so no they won’t start costing USD.
I mean I might be wrong about this as I don’t really know what can be considered as a ‘subscription’ but what about Private Servers? They work similar to subscriptions, you pay a monthly amount and get something in return (in that case the private server).
You’re saying that subscriptions are in USD for regulations, how come private servers which work pretty much the same aren’t?
I believe in terms of legal or accounting for Roblox internally, private servers are not counted in the same way game subscriptions are (don’t ask me why, i dont know).
Problem: Taxation
Solution: Remove Tax
Not Solution: Make plugins purchasable by USD$ only
You’re missing the point. The consumer base for those plugins will decrease severely. This will increase dissatisfaction amongst the consumers and decrease sales of plugins and increase piracy rates of said plugins. This will lead to situations where bad actors will distribute plugins with malware in it and put in risk those who use them - most of them being kids and teenagers who know little about computer security. Who cares about being an irresponsible financier when you don’t even have any money to be responsible for?
Can you make good games on roblox without plugins? Yes. Can you make all types of good games on roblox without plugins? No. At least it’s a ‘no’ if you think that the biggest action responsible for taking your time is doing things that plugins already do - Archimedes, Moon Animator, etc.
I don’t know about game studios outside of roblox but ‘in’ roblox? No. No. No again. I’ve worked for a plenty and all of them use plugins that are on the marketplace. I’ve actually never heard of anyone using their own private plugins for anything in the groups I’ve worked with. Perhaps you did. I haven’t.
Plugins that generate code on roblox marketplace are irrelevant as they make a small portion of plugins on the market.
Again, depends.
Well now they won’t earn anything LOL. The biggest plugin makers before the USD update were making sales 2-5 times every day with prices starting from thousands of robux. It only gets worse the further down you go in the marketplace. Now with the USD$ only update it’s only gonna get worse. I already warned you guys about this but you are none the wiser. Rich get richer. Poor get poorer. The ride never ends!
And ironically the plugin section has the smallest base of clients, which you know, will definitely negatively impact sales now that the plugins are sold only via USD$.
You’re right about that one. If you want to sell your plugin, then now it has to be better than others to make any good sales.
I am not sure about that. It is much more convenient for new developers to purchase plugins with USD vs Robux. Before, a new developer would need to spend USD to buy Robux, then use the Robux to buy the plugin. It is much more direct.
This is the fault of the user. You should always do research before downloading products. That is not at all Roblox’s fault.
Yes. The plugin is there to assist you. What if the plugin is no longer supported? Does the game need to be abandoned?
I have no hopes of making money on this platform anyways so I may as well give up tbh.
The solution is not to remove tax. It doesn’t work like that. How are we removing the DevEx fees which are something like 65%? That doesn’t solve anything. Special DevEx for plugins feels weird.
I’m not sure what to say about this, honestly. Everybody already knows Roblox strives to make everything accessible for people of all ages, and is known for supporting and doing more stuff for their younger audience. This is definitely not supporting anybody, but people that can make money from a job, from commissions (which can be talent hub but that’s a different conversation for a different thread), or anything else, but for younger audiences, I don’t think this is the best and probably is forcing some to not even buy plugins at all.
The main point here is, you are limiting the majority of this platform (younger kids or people that can’t get USD or a payment handler), from making beautiful plugins and that can grow your skills.
Every single day, I check Community Resources in hope to support these people that might cannot use these payment handlers (Paypal, stripe, etc) and I give them feedback and if their plugin is for sale with some robux, I go ahead and buy it to support them. Now, I cannot because at that point, I’ll be bankrupt by the time I finish.
On another note, what are you going to do with Robux whenever you get them via your game? You obviously cannot buy anymore plugins because they will be forced to either do real life currency or to be free. DevEx rates absouly suck, and robux to USD rates suck, so who will be doing that? What use will Robux giftcards be now that we have to spend money for plugins (or models coming soon) that we want?
These are all things that need to be fixed, before we introduce this and take out a whole currency that Roblox relies on.
I’ll be completely honest, if I were in my younger years (which I’m 19 right now), it’ll turn me away from the platform immediately, no questions asked because I simply could not do it and I wouldn’t think my parents would buy me $100 (or more/less depending on the plugin) which will add up in the long run.
To the Roblox Staff that made this, I mean absolutely 0 hate to you. I think the user interface design is amazing and that this could be in our future, though right now, I think this need a bit more research on and some other things need to be lined in play here.
What should younger creators do right now until you guys find a solution to this problem?
This is a big concern on both sides of this, each is the same exact thing. The problem is deep in the value of Robux to USD, and USD to Robux because if you take away one of them, the value doesn’t add up or stuff becomes useless. It’s the way that Roblox is built.
Honestly, I think my point here is extremely valid (not to toot my own horn) . I think this is a good solution and a good start to a very addressed problem, but I feel like it needs a bit more research and development with people from the community before it is fully released.
Thank you guys, for releasing this (except it is too early, but it still shows) and showing us you guys knowing about these issues, that means a lot to me, and I’m sure other creators appreciate it too! This shows a lot to old Roblox, and it shows that Roblox still is listening and still is opened to feedback.
As a young plugin creator, I have created numerous innovative and even groundbreaking plugins that are overshadowed by less well made ones that are simply popular. Now that I’m only able to offer it for free or for prices nobody will buy, all of my sales are down the drain.
Rather than trying to give developers more money for plugin sales, perhaps you should EVALUATE the plugin using AI to determine if its a good plugin. That or use basic metrics on stuff like complexity, use, and rating (with a quick MAJOR boost for recently released unknown plugins that are determined to be potentially innovative such as mine)
I am having trouble having my genius plugins to explode. Roblox, stop focusing on the mega plugins and invite innovation. Give us small innovative guys a chance! My plugins are simply brilliant and extremely underrated, being better than 90% of the massive ones.
For example you know the Trello website? The website where you can create tasks? I MADE A ROBLOX PLUGIN that replicates that functionality! (Task Creator: Productivity) This is simply brilliant but roblox has constraints against innovation and does not allow such plugins to blow up. For example the plugin has only few sales while some random lighting plugin which just sets your lighting to futuristic has millions.
Of course it is. Your problem was that your income is being taxed. Taxed. The word tax in question is causing your problem. If not for taxes then your income would be? Definitely not taxed. It’s a solution to the problem you’ve showed us but you don’t seem to actually believe in this problem.
No. It is not more convenient for new developers to purchase plugins with USD$. The reasons are plenty.
First of all, when plugins were purchaseable with robux, then you didn’t have to spend anything to actually buy said plugins. Seriously, you could earn robux without spending a penny and then use said robux to buy plugins. This was especially advantageous for those who live in poor socioeconomic conditions, especially in the 2nd and 3rd world.
Second of all, now you must give away even more information than before to be able to access basic functions of the website that you could have had in the past without giving your personal information away. This is especially bad for those who care about their private security and are aware that Roblox is a ticking bomb and at any given time someone can release a new list of breached information from the roblox databases. Same with Stripe, they’ve had their security problems in the past - and not so distant past may I add. It already happened on the start of this decade in 2021 I believe. The more services you put in between yourself and the product and the more information you give them the more probable it is for that information to get leaked.
Third of all, those who now cannot afford to buy those plugins for many reasons. One can be it because they cannot exchange their robux to real-life money through DevEx and don’t want to spend their real money. Second can be it that they simply cannot afford it because they don’t have money. I’ll surprise you, there are poor people among us and they can’t afford even basic plugins.
Fourth of all, the smallest developers will suffer the most as their plugins will be at the back of the store page and they will get the smallest amount of attention which will be unable to translate itself into anyone buying those plugins except for few rare exceptions. Previously they could sell their plugins for small prices and over time earn robux that they could spend elsewhere. This was possible because anyone could get robux without restrictions. Now it’s not. Now the consumer base will decrease. It literally decreased by over a half for the biggest plugin creators when they started pricing their plugins in thousands of robux. Although thanks to that they are on the front page they get the most attention - which means they get the most consumers as well.
Fifth, this will lead to an increase in piracy in plugins. This will decrease potential income of plugin creators and at the same time put people who download those pirated plugins at risk of being infected with malware inserted there by bad distributors. Nobody wins, except for those who spread the malware because Roblox game them the perfect environment to do so.
I have so many arguments against this update and I can’t even find a single argument in my head I would genuinely believe in for why this update is good. Not even one. All of the arguments you’ve presented me while logical, are unfortunately based on insufficient information, optimism and hope instead of calculated cold reason.
It’s literally Roblox’s fault because they created the environment to allow this. This update made piracy even more positive than before for those who couldn’t afford the plugins or thought they were too expensive or too hard to get. I am putting the blame not on the users, but on the Roblox. Because Roblox knew that they would do this. Roblox knew that people would have their accounts and computers compromised over this. Roblox ignored all of this and still decided to push this faulty update. Roblox did NOTHING to prevent this, only to give piracy everything it needs to grow. Stop supporting Roblox when it’s not going to support you.
What you said is irrelevant because I explained in detail why plugins are important for making games. Quote the entire argument and discuss it instead of picking words.
Then read above, I have never seen anyone being so masochistic as to not use any plugins available on the marketplace whatsoever despite being able to. That or I have never seen such a strict company on roblox that didn’t allow you to use plugins. Although if I have to think of one company that does, then I do have an idea which one it may be. Gamefam to be specific. And that’s not a good thing. Either way the point is that you should use plugins when you can because it helps with your work and not having access to it will severely impact the quality and speed of your work.
Case in point. This update will definitely not help creators like you. This will only push your consumers even further away from you if you choose to make your plugins purchaseable. As now their only option to buy your plugins - should you choose to make your plugins purchaseable - is to give away their real money and private information to a company with questionable reputation. If you even find a single person to do that then I will personally congratulate you - because I expect you to find none, at least not in the short term.
You should always do research before downloading products. That is not at all Roblox’s fault.
