While on one side I do see this as a good change, people getting rewarded for their work in actual cash is nice, however…
This kinda feels like a stretch. (flashback to the great audio purge… )
I do understand that this change is with good heart, but… How can I explain this, some plugins that are nowadays still used (and sometimes newly purchased) aren’t updated anymore due to whatever factor may be at play, so what’s gonna happen to those?
Why exactly was this decision made? Feels like I might run into the situation of finding some old plugin that solves one timely task, priced at say 500 or so R$, only to then find that the thing is no longer available because the creator for it has long gone inactive and wasn’t able to convert it into USD pricing…
Then, limiting the option to exclusively USD…
While yes, this is a good update for people that want to actually get rewarded for their work on the platform, I do feel like this could become a roadblock for some younger developers, who don’t always have the availability of parents willing to let them use their cash, maybe having to rely on doing certain tasks for robux, or people in some specific countries, like Russian developers currently being in a very tight squeeze due to the sanctions (reference the post right above me from @KittUnix).
I do hope that this entire month of wiggle room and the feedback being given CAN possibly give this update a little more glimmer of hope? But this entire thing seems to have a VERY divided opinion.
But well, for the people that can’t wait to sell their plugins for USD, get that well deserved bag, whoever you may be.
Not trying to bring politics here, but sanctions are sanctions and Stripe being unavailable in Russia is a sign of them at work. Roblox is a US-based company (Stripe is Irish), so it’s basically impossible for Russians to access markets there.
Brazil is the confusing part for me, so I hope Stripe has plans to launch there.
Is extremely stupid, Roblox could easily make it so the robux needed to buy the plugin would be the same amount in usd. For example a plugin cost $1 so the player would need to spend 100 robux to get it (or you could make it be enough so even after the 30% cut they would still get 100 robux)
So if someone makes a plugin that changes how we used to do things but is under 18 then they are forced to just give it away for free?
Or… just hear me out… you Automatically convert the price to usd… But seriously what about plugins from developers that left the platform?
I’d love to sell models for robux AND usd but that would require Roblox to create more protection from model theft (also the solution can’t be to make all models in a game that are private invisible like y’all did for the audio update)
I’m not against developers making money off of their work but the way y’all are doing it is incredibly stupid. One of the reasons people develop on Roblox is because its “free” this update just makes it harder for younger people to buy plugins unless they have a card. (Also this problem could have easily been solved if you removed the damn fee /s)
I think we should use Robux for everything on the ROBLOX platform. Can Robux be purchased for real money anyway? This update makes no sense. Do not force USD.
ID Verification
I have no problem with this, I already verified my own account, but this is too much for an plugin, stripe verification, roblox verification. This is just a plugin.
Minimum amount too high
Some plugins offer 150 robux, $5 is a very high amount for the lowest amount.
It won’t be good for plugins that old developers forgot about.
Roblox wants to use Stripe, a third-party payment company. Stripe only supports some countries not all of them, so only some developers living in those supported countries will be able to create a seller account.
I’m under 18, why can’t I sell my plugins for just Robux? I have two plugins on the front page making hundreds if not thousands of installs. I guess they will just be removed, I’ll lose my income and also two projects I really enjoyed working on. If this change rolls out in this form, I have no other option that to leave this platform? I really do not want to do that, but if Roblox forces it on me then I have no other option. FORCING this change is so useless.
Inflation is a big problem - that was not what I was concerned about nor arguing against. I’ve suffered the effects of it myself - but I interpreted your sentence as you saying “Robux is affordable for everyone and changing to USD would remove that”.
Once more, fair enough. I understand people being unwilling to diss out their personal information at random, I don’t like to either, but unfortunately the ID verification system is, at least to Roblox’s view, the only way they can protect themselves and younger users from harm.
“Join, play, and create” is the exact sentence they use, which from my view, does not include any financial restrictions that someone may or may not have. Sure, you can start making games and playing them without worry about any financial burden, but for a while now this has been not so true when it comes to plugins. Sure, you have a vast majority of plugins being free, but many of the ones that are more “complex” require you to pay for them. My intention of including Robux in the argument was to demonstrate Roblox was not catering to everyone’s financial status, but if you strictly limit it to just “Joining, playing, and creating”, then, yes, they do.
Correct, they are not a requirement for game development, but once more, no one ever established that these plugins were ever meant to be affordable. Should they be? Yes, they should. Pricing a simple plugin at, let’s say even the lowest price, $4.99, is a terrible idea and should not be done. For that matter, I’m hesitant to even purchase a plugin far less than that value and it contains 10 different features in one, which leans into the more complex side of plugins.
I think the main problem here is Plugin Developers do not earn enough to continually create plugins, and that is the problem which Roblox is attempting to address. Developers should know how much their plugin is worth, of course, but a lot of that is going to be subjective to the developer, regardless of any guide you give them. You may still end up with high prices.
And I agree that putting high prices on a platform with a majority of users being young developers is a terrible idea and should not be executed on in the first place. But, depending on how successful a developer is, you could still encounter this problem anyway, albeit likely on a lesser scale.
The taxes on plugins exist likely for the same reason Roblox taxes income on your games from products like gamepasses, subscriptions, or developer products. They take this platform fee as part of hosting your content on their platform and probably to save themselves from losses. In the post I linked in my first post, someone mentioned that Roblox had disclosed they had a net loss of a billion dollars, two thirds of that as a result of DevEx. That alone could be a partial explanation as to why they’re pushing this update.
The new seller system is not going to be much different from the current system anyway. If a malicious person wants to create a malicious plugin, they will most likely make it free. And I highly doubt a system like this can be abused more with USD.
It’s not only “Join, play, and create.”, they have advertised themselves as a company empowering creation for players worldwide, on many media sources, including YouTube with multiple videos and series(even in some Hackweek episodes), and many other places such as news websites, and social media websites such as Twitter (X).
This not being the same anymore for plugins is the thing I’m complaining about here, they are conflicting with their statements now.
This platform is not Unity, or Unreal Engine where you can create an AAA game.
Assets being priced high on these platforms have a great reason, and that is, these platforms are being advertised to professional developers, companies that want higher control over their games, and the engine. The assets being developed on those platforms (including plugins) are far greater and more complex.
I’m completely okay with an asset priced at 10-15$ on Unity or UE Store. But on a platform that advertises itself as a place where everyone can create, and contains mostly young developers, who cannot easily access USD prices due to Inflation and other financial problems? Surely not.
I have seen the chart that demonstrates how the income on Roblox gets split. Some go to Dev-Ex, some go to Platform Maintenance, some go to App Store fees, and some go to Roblox themselves. I am highly aware of why Roblox has implemented a tax system for developers, but the thing is, this update greatly reduces the amount of money that they’re getting from plugins anyway. Roblox only uses 10% of what they get from sales, which leaves creators with 90% of the price that they have put on sale.
If Roblox did this, then they could easily have done the same thing for Robux pricing, either remove the taxes entirely or reduce it to an amount where just like the other developers creating gamepasses and other products, they can get the most of the original price.
being forced to use usd is such a terrible idea like what if you dont use usd as a currency, what if you dont own a card,what if your under 18 and so many other issues like imagine spending 17 dollars on a animating software for roblox, its also just really inconvenient imagine my game does really good i have loads of robux and i cant just put them back into the game i cant use them for the whole selling point of roblox so unless i can convert or want some new hats robux are basically worthless plus selling models is just gonna make the issue of stealing them even worse now you can fill them with viruses AND make money off it
You do not need plugins to create a game, they are purely additive and not a requirement to start developing on Roblox.
If we want ground-breaking innovative plugins to appear in the catalog, USD pricing needs to be a thing to encourage people to actually spend the necessary time and effort into creating meaningful plugins. Providing the option to sell for both Robux and USD isn’t an option, this will lead to undercutting and a race to the bottom. Developers will expect plugins to be purchasable for Robux and unnecessary hate will be thrown towards developers that charge in USD.
Similarly, Roblox can’t just lower the tax for plugin creators, this leads to possible issues of money laundering and creating even more Robux in the economy.
Allowing Robux to be converted into a USD credit is the fairest option and I’m hoping Roblox adds this in the future, but you all need to be realistic and understand the limited options Roblox has here. They can either switch to USD and improve the plugin market drastically through incentivizing more creations, or they can leave it as is and let it stagnate.
It looks like I (and some developers) will no longer be able to sell plugins due to age restrictions and changes for purchase method to USD instead of Robux when this update is released.
Creator Store can real-world currency is a good idea.
No longer waiting DevEx for get real money.
I quite happy finally getting more incomes.
But…
Even I have ID or Passport for meet seller requirement, I still no longer to sell my create anymore since I’m 13~17. That is terrible requirement. I got parent agreement but I still can’t sell it! What is a ridiculous things that they did.
Also, no longer using Robux is a another worst idea too. For those don’t have credit card, debit card or prepaid card, they can’t buy plugins anymore.
Some people may have E-Wallet (Allipay, Touch 'n Go, PayPal, etc…), But I’m not sure is roblox accept using Alipay+ (For Alipay HK, Touch 'n Go, Boost, etc…) or PayPal for the payment.
Even don’t those payment problem, we still looking for about exchange rate and charge problem. Since it may effect those buyer desire of plugin.
I feel so rage about this change since my most favourite plugin - BlockLua is no longer update and sell anymore (Due to creator doesn’t reach age 18). That’s mean if BlockLua have problem in future, for those bought it can’t have a indemnification.
Roblox should view about problem when change to real-world currency. It may effect a lot things for creator.
In my opinion, they should allow the users aged 13-18 to sell plugins with parental supervision, like how some other platforms allow the users in this age group to monetize with parental supervision.
This is an unfortunate change for all the younger developers that use roblox as a place to begin exploring development. Now they won’t be able to make any income from the creator store until they turn 18, they won’t be able to buy assets using robux from their ugc/experience/etc income or a premium membership, and they won’t be able to fund their own roblox play by selling their creations to other roblox developers.
As an adult that isn’t personally impact, I feel like getting rid of any way for those under 18 to participate in the developer-focused side of the roblox economy is a big step backwards.
I saw that some people suggested having the option to buy plugins for usd or for robux. I think this is a better solution. For example, if I see a certain plugin I want to buy, I will have to pay usd for it and I only have robux. Right now, I make robux buying and selling ugc limiteds. I want to be able to use that robux to buy the plugins I want.
Many younger developers don’t have credit or debit cards to make purchases in usd. It is so much easier to develop on roblox with plugins than without. If you go to most beginner and helpful roblox studio guides, they recommend countless plugins that could increase your time and automate your workflow. Now, these young devs will be forced to go without plugins until they can either convince their parents to give them money for roblox plugins or find a way to make a game that can somehow give them a minimum of 30k robux in order to devex and get usd to buy these plugins.
While yes, paying in usd may give devs more money, it is almost stoping younger people from having access to create easily in roblox studio. There needs to be a balance between giving devs more money and also allowing others who primarily pay using robux to continue to buy what they want.
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