In response to Developer’s Feedback on Developer Exchange

The information in this post may be outdated. Please reference our support documentation and FAQ on DevEx or visit the Developer Economics page for more information about monetization.

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Link to feature request for reference: (EDIT: thanks for adding to main post!)

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Thank you for your swift response. Better transparency of the cost breakdown will certainly help developers understand where the money is going and to make more informed decisions. This is generally a good thing. I hope further information is given to developers very soon.

That being said, I have had and will continue to have doubts about the effectiveness of a monetization expert. Roblox as a platform is vastly different to the mobile market, or really any other micro transaction market. In many cases, I believe your top devs will understand monetization on Roblox better than any outside expert will.

Better analytics and more thoughtful programs are always a good thing, but I think a lot of the testimonies were especially damning towards one thing: the financial security of developing on Roblox, and I don’t think this has been addressed yet.

A key concern among top devs looking to form studios is that the hiring pool seems to be decreasing. There is an alarming exodus of veteran development talent leaving because the platform has failed to financially support them. Better analytics and a monetization expert is great, but we need solutions that start at the ground floor instead of just helping devs that are already doing fine.

As for App Store costs, isn’t this already accounted for by your Robux purchasing rates? On PC, you can buy 1,000 Robux for $10, but on mobile the same amount only gets you 800 Robux. Developers need more information and a more in-depth breakdown.

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We’re looking forward to working with you! It’ll be nice to see where the costs are going, and hopefully we can negotiate terms which work for all of us in the future! :slightly_smiling_face:

edit: oh yeah, the response is really appreciated, after the lack of response on some other issues recently. Kudos!

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So this basically means that Roblox isn’t planning to increase the rates anytime soon?

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The fact that Roblox is actually replying to this outstanding community-driven initiative is simply astonishing. Good on you, you guys are amazing. Thank you for providing a response to the thread.

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Thank you for showing us the breakdown of the costs, it helps us better understand where the money is going. :slight_smile:

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Yes, but as the post says:

  1. Some developers can monetise their games a lot better and Robox is going to provide support on this
  2. Roblox isn’t just hogging the money and refusing to increase rates, it is being used to power and expand the platform
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The percentage given to app stores seemed ludicrously high at first, though upon further reflection that does include Xbox and potentially Windows 10, so I guess that makes it more reasonable.

I’d like to say that I appreciate the response, and that it’s especially appreciated that it isn’t hidden behind the @Roblox account. It shows that you’re taking this issue seriously and want to have an open discussion with developers about it. With that said, this thread does little to address the concerns laid out in the thread it’s responding to.

A direct response on the topic of at the very least people being ruined by the DevEx tiers and how hard it is to be successful on the platform would be appreciated. While you may only get to work with 26% of your income, that is still evidently enough of that that can go to developers to add additional tiers of payout at over 2 million USD, yet there are still people at the lower tiers struggling to get off the ground. A response would be appreciated and welcomed.

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I think that transparency has always been a big issue when it comes to choices made on Roblox, as people never really understand why a feature is added or removed, but I can understand that when it comes down to a bare bones analysis, you guys are doing the best you can. I hope that in the future, you are just as transparent as you were with this post, because this is all we ask for as developers. What makes me happiest, is that this was a response. Maybe it didn’t answer everyone’s questions, but it is definitely a big move, and it tells me that you are listening to the platform and the developers on the platform.

In addition, I’ve also noticed that this thread was not started by the “Roblox” account, and while this may or may not be deliberate, it was a nice touch. I understand that admins hide their identities when making us aware of “potentially controversial or judgable” decisions that Roblox make, because they want to avoid being targeted or portrayed in a specific way, but I hope in the future that admins will individually continue to emphasise with our stories as developers and people , in the hopes that we can recognise we’re all human.

Thank you for showing us the breakdown of the costs, as I know that is a huge ambiguous area in the community, it really is appreciated, and thank you for responding.

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I’m wondering what exactly the quantity “what we collect” refers to. Does it represent the monetary value of the sum of Robux spent in games that is not received by the creator? Or is it Roblox’s total income from selling Robux, minus the total devex payout? Or does it refer to some other metric?

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As inefficient as the costs are at the moment, I hope we’re able to reduce these costs in the future as have a better revenue share.

I for one, appreciate the swift and transparent response though.

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Something to note is that it’s not necessarily about the quantity of money as it is the ratio of money earned from Robux purchases/BC to money given to developers to DevEx, so I suspect adding the higher tiers wasn’t a huge financial issue except maybe that they’re paying a larger upfront sum. I’m not super familiar with the higher tiers tho so could be wrong, but I believe the rate of Robux:USD is the same on all tiers?

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I’m not part of this whole thing, but props to you guys for the quick response. It really shows you guys care and it’s a good look. I hope this continues as time goes on! :slightly_smiling_face:

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It is the same on all tiers, but the problem is that while they’re making it easier for the top developers to cash out more every month there are still people who get stuck between the lower tiers and have to round down – sometimes by a factor of over 100%.

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Like recently, I could be wrong but they boosted the dev ex rate to 2million usd instead of boosting the lower tiers a tad and then the top tier. Which only makes it harder for the devs just starting out to gain any profit or get anywhere with their games that they slave over nonstop unless they have the proper funding before hand which most people do not have.

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I feel that their response is a nice way of saying that at it’s current state Roblox is not at the point where financial security can be achieved for developers seeing it as a means to make a living. Given the cost break down, Roblox has awhile to go before it can become a platform that can provide financial security, which prevents free-lance developing studios from prospering.

I think what would be best is to provide our views on possible solutions in order to make Roblox a financially backed platform for veteran and rising developers.

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@berezaa already made a good point about cars versus game studios. It costs more to maintain a game studio than to buy a new car or iPhone or whatever luxury. Reason being that one is recurrent and one is a one time payment.

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It would be interesting to see if the 24% for stores and payment processing could come down.

I’m sure some developers on the platform don’t have their game available for certain platforms, such as mobile, as it is quite a job to make controls, UI, performance, etc work well on both mobile and PC, etc.

If a player uses Robux that was made via a platform which has store fees, then sure, the fee should be deducted. However, if the set of Robux was purchased via a platform with no store fees, such as PC, then no store fee deductions should be made (store fee != processing fee).

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I always supported an increase but I’m mindful of the hidden costs that Roblox has to keep the platform up and running. Glad the staff members are responding :smile:

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