Creator Store: Buy and Sell Plug-Ins with Real-World Currency

[ChasingSpace (Chasing)]

Incredible stuff. I’ve loosely followed you and your plugins, and I have wondered how the move to Itch worked out.

If you can pull that off through self advertising and word of mouth, I figure things will be looking good with this release for you and others.

It’s nice to see plugin creators get some proper treatment so we can get even better quality plugins.

[Elttob (dphfox)]

I’m excited that maybe other people might actually get a shot at sharing in that level of success given that Roblox’s discovery & algorithm is essential in equalising the difference of reach between larger and smaller creators.

[OverAcheiver647 (BothAchiever647_YT)]

Maybe roblox should make gamepasses that cost real-world currency so NO one can buy ANYTHING in roblox

[nkowz]

This is the worst thing ever, ALL MY PLUGINS ARE NOW FREE, and since I’m not over 18 I’m SOL, literally just ruined everything nobody’s going to spent real money for a plugin

[Monopoly_Banker]

@CoIorEvent

Roblox has been getting into some legal troubles for their old vision of profiting off of unpaid children

That’s a good point. I don’t think Roblox’s branding of “powering imagination” was bad though, its just silly that they are actively going against that. Roblox profiting off unpaid children is a problem though so I understand your side XD

[kavi_conner (Kavi)]

Very good update! It means that software created by developers on Roblox can now be priced right.

The only downside that this update has is, it locks out Plugin Developers under the age of 18. Which, I mean, how many plugins that are used by a lot of developers, that is created by someone under the age of 18?

Although, I still feel bad for the plugin developers who can’t upload their plugins. Best of luck to you guys.

[OutlookG (Outlook)]

Just saying I’d buy it if it was on roblox

[Elttob (dphfox)]

I have plans to that effect.

[Ahdlibya (absolute_zero)]

i’m over 18 and still can’t sell/purchase plugins due to country restrictions i hope they focus on add more countries now i will have to wait from 3 to 6 months or even years to resell my plugins or buy new plugins due to country limitations i hope roblox listen and support more payment options like robux and adding more countries to the creator store

[Reditect]

Appreciate the reply.

@Elttob

you can’t answer this question without defining your audience.

The question of ‘is a Creator missing out on most of the market they want to reach?’ can be complicated depending on the audience a creator wants to reach, yes. That said, the question of ‘is Roblox missing out on most of Roblox’s own audience?’… that is clear and simple. Yes, they are.

I assume you’d agree that if a Creator wants to reach and target an audience, they should be able to do that. Yet, if a Plug-In Creator wants to reach Creators under 18, they can’t right now. The general market of creators is hurt by not letting all creators buy plug-ins.

@Elttob

The old system misrepresented value hugely, I’m not quite sure why you see it differently. The discrepancy between retail Robux rate and DevEx + marketplace fee combined rate is 8x - that is to say, if I earned 10 USD, you will have paid 80 USD. We saw this in practice when I adjusted my own prices. So yes, it misrepresented value by a factor of eight.

I must’ve heard such a big issue before, but that wasn’t in my mind when writing that quote. That’s my bad. If Roblox fixed that “misrepresented value by a factor of eight”, would that fix the issue here? Ideally a system of conversion is not doing that. I assume since Roblox gives the fees that they can know that and use that to have a far more accurate system.

@Elttob

@Reditect

Can’t Roblox use those rates to automatically set a robux price for an asset. It seems like a deliberate choice not doing that. Why?

You guys hated that when they tried to push it for UGC.

I’m confused as to what you mean. By “UGC” do you mean UGC Accessories? When I hear “UGC” that’s what people tend to mean in the Roblox community.

Also, Roblox tried to push the option for UGC to be bought in USD via a system that converts robux to USD? I wouldn’t hate that, I think.

@Elttob

@Reditect

While this “allows developers [from Roblox and other communities to] easily understand costs”, that comes at a cost to their overall revenue and the Roblox userbase in general. The reasons behind this I have gone over already in other responses to quotes.

This is actually not true both theoretically and experimentally. See:

I assume your response here is about the bolded claim. I am not arguing that USD-based pricing, or higher pricing, is hurting the revenue of Roblox as a whole, which is what it sounds like you are arguing against in the video.

I am arguing that the opportunity for revenue is greater when people have the option to pay for something in both currencies: USD and robux. That option is what I am arguing for. Does that clarification change anything?

@Elttob

@Reditect

If the idea here is to make the process of purchasing things “as frictionless as possible”, wouldn’t that extend to Plug-Ins? And thus, isn’t it fair to say that now purchasing Plug-Ins has quite the friction? If Roblox allowed people to use Robux as an option, that would make it equally as “frictionless” as the mentioned cases.

The friction is upfront when you connect your card, just the same as if you were purchasing Robux in the first place. You’re only seeing it because you’re interacting with the system for the first time, and haven’t interacted with the other onboarding for years.

I am playing devil’s advocate, using Roblox’s quotes against their position. That is my strategy for the response. It could’ve been stronger with your argument. Anyhow, I completely agree that both methods of payment (USD and robux) have friction, different friction but friction nonetheless. It seems Roblox does not think that though.

If Roblox believes that robux only for the avatar shop is “frictionless”, then how is that different than the Creator Store? I think if the issue here was really about friction in the currency involved, then Roblox would probably let people use robux. I wanted to point out that flaw.

@Elttob

@Reditect

That would make the process have less “friction”, as stated in another part of the post. So, that’d be awesome to see.

It wouldn’t really change that much, it’s a visual change. You’re still going through the same backend.

If it’s the same backend, and just visual, then that’s more reason to support it. Not much work, right?

The difference is that creators don’t need a credit card or gift card or whatever to get robux. Creators, no matter age, can earn robux through Premium Payouts and sales and whatnot, right? If it’s just visual, and the price is technically the same, then I say support it. It can be easier for some to get the same amount in robux than in USD.

@Elttob

@Reditect

I’m sure the task of making everything have the ability to be paid for in robux and USD would be a nightmare, but doesn’t that difference create some confusion? If I pay for one thing in one place, but not all, I assume at least one person would want to keep paying in the same way. That goes for USD and robux.

Additionally, my idea of Roblox having a system that automatically converts USD to robux, and vice versa, would make supporting USD platform-wide easier. It’d just be a function() a currency is passed through, right?

It’s a little more infrastructure than that most likely, and it’s also important that Roblox ensures that function is carefully tuned to not destabilise the entire Roblox economy. So I think it’s understandable that they chose their scope for this first release and left this out of it, though I think it’s time for them to look into implementing earnings as payment.

I agree. I think the scope is good enough and there’s more stuff behind it all than I know. I notice that you say “earnings as payment” throughout your reply and only know understand fully. That means USD, right? What people earn from DevEx or just earn in life in general besides robux?

[mathf_x (Math)]

Can’t we have both? Both is good. Let the people get paid in Robux if they want to, even if that decision is short-sighted.

[deafaultyboii1324]

@crayzdesi4

We have also launched our new Transactions tab on Creator Dashboard, which allows you to track your purchase, sales, and payout history for paid Creator Store assets.

Where have sales of free plugins gone? They don’t show up in the new transactions page nor do they appear on the old one.

[Ahdlibya (absolute_zero)]

why Roblox hasn’t considered creating a new currency with higher value for DevEx, which could be obtained through Robux conversion or USD purchase. It could be priced higher in Robux to ensure its increased value and also offer the option to convert it back to Robux.

[nakata1609]

Gamepasses, developer products & subscriptions should have an optional USD pricing as well with that 90% cut.

[FriendlyAdder]

Thanks for reporting this issue with free asset transactions, we are looking into it.

[sozzly]

I don’t have a credit or debit card due to personal reasons, and I mainly use PayPal for my transactions, as this works for me. How am I meant to buy plugins? It’s a legitimate question.

[checkersoda]

@crayzdesi4

The team is actively investigating unlocking the ability for creators under 18 to sell their assets on Creator Store.

Oh if only there’s some form of currency that minors could use so that they can participate in this new update for the platform… Something that they can utilize for the website and, if they so choose and are eligible, can even convert to real-life currency!

[BaconHairWIthEpichat (Bacon)]

If I had to pick to rather earn money directly or DevEx the robuxs I get from it. I’m choosing the first option. You’ll earn more profit rather than earning an online currency.

Yeah you can DevEx the robuxs to real money, but have you seen how much robuxs you need to have in order to do that?

owch…

[checkersoda]

Yeah good luck ever getting me or at least half the playerbase here that uses Roblox Studio to use actual cash to buy plugins.

How about this then: Make currency and robux options side-by-side. Convert the currency to an equal amt of robux automatically.

There, problem solved, I expect my check in the mail.

[TheNexusAvenger (Nexus)]

This is a good point: Robux is super wasteful. To get a decent amount of revenue from plugins, you need to set the Robux price so high that you probably don’t have it on hand. A $50 plugin would cost about 20,000 Robux to get the same amount, or nearly 4x the price. There is no way you are going to be able to convince your parents to spend $200 for Robux (or as a business expense if you are a new professional studio). That is why <500 Robux plugins were a thing, but they gave almost no revenue. Robux-based pricing nearly required cheap prices, which prevents plugin makers from making a reasonable living. You either need sky-high Robux prices, or USD.