Let’s say I buy some Robux on my phone. Then I play your game, and buy some in-game items from your game.
Roblox still loses the money from the in-app purchase fee, because the Robux was purchased on a phone. Solely using the Robux on a PC-only game means nothing.
You’re not understanding what I mean.
If Robux was purchased on a PC, and used on a game, then no store percentage fee (store percentage fee is not processing fees) should be taken from this set of Robux when it comes the time of when the developer has submitted their Robux to DevEx.
If Robux was purchased on a platform which has app store fees, and used on a game, then sure, a store percentage fee should be taken at the time the developer submits their DevEx.
I’ve updated my original post to make this clearer.
Thank you for responding to this issue! Many developers have had their concerns with the developer exchange rate, it is nice to get a response.
I believe that with the growth and expansion of the platform, this rate could possibly increase in the future. As more large developer groups begin to appear (such as Red Manta), it would make sense for this rate to gradually increase to a rate in which can support large groups such as this. More in-depth games require many features in which would take larger teams to create, and having a higher rate in the future would help to support these large teams.
Plenty of developers on the platform stick to teams of 1-3, as it is very difficult to go any larger and to grant everyone a fair pay via percentages.
I’m personally glad that Roblox at least responded, for a big company, transparency is really a gift to behold. Thank you for the fast response, and showing where the costs go to, it gives us a better grasp.
Someone else provided the accurate responce to this prior to your comment by both Apple and Google take 30% of all in-app purchases, without any drop based on any circumstances.
Subscriptions (which are completly serperate from in-app purchases such as purchasing R$) recieve a decrease in processing cost for both these processors down to 15% after 1 year of continious subscription (if someone subscribes for 6 months, then doesn’t for 1 month, then 6 months again this does not qualify).
Store percentage fees actually are processing fees. Google and Apple act soley as payments processors in transactions through their respective app stores. This is why those companies are not responsible for issues inside applications where there issues happen. Part of the 30% Apple and Google take cover thier payments processor fees too.
The idea of “Some Robux having more value then others” is way less transparent then a set exchange rate. Why should I earn less because someone got the same content in my game but purchased their Robux from a mobile store front?
Having a flat exchange rate for developers is simply the most transparent and makes the most sense. Each item I sell in my game has a direct value to cash out at that doesn’t vary off where a customer purchased their R$.
Processing fees I imagined would be for the payment processor, such as PayPal, Stripe, etc.
Whilst it is transparent as it is now, the easiest way I see currently to allow developers to make more revenue is to implement such a system.
There would be processing fees for PC users, but I highly imagine these would be much less of what platforms charge for store fees.
I appreciate that this came so fast after all the talk, but it is actually a little discouraging.
The real problem isn’t the 20% to 70%. (or whatever the numbers are.)
The issue is that developers aren’t getting a lot for the work they put in, especially the smaller devs who have trouble making the minimum payouts!
One fact that a lot of developers have mentioned, and I think makes a lot of sense is that games should only have to pay Platform fees if their game is actually on the platform
That in itself could help small devs (who don’t yet have experience for making mobile or Xbox games) to support themselves better
Now for my replies…
Monoread:
Having to immediately fork over £20 for a month of OBC just to be able to cashout your earnings to me is an super insult to injury considering the CEO of Roblox David Baszucki has repeatedly been seen repeating the phrase “never charge the developer” yet since DevEx has launched this requirement has still not been lifted.
They actually say they never charge the developer?
That’s called lying… And very disappointing!
Reverse_Polarity:
I’ve talked to a lot of developers over the past few years and I always ask them a simple question: What is their plan for the future? Most of the times, their response is “Use Roblox as a jumping off point to develop for other platforms.” That is tragic to me, and I believe it needs to change.
This is unfortunately what’s going to be with my family.
As it stands, Roblox just can’t support any of us. We aren’t likely to become stars overnight, and that’s sorta the only way you can make a living. (being a Star that is 
)
Thank you for the response.
I am no top developer, nor do I even DevEx; but as a child I dreamed of creating games. My story may differ to others’ as I never expected to make a living off of game development - I’ve had many other ideas (i.e. real employment w/o electronic arts). However I’ve dreamt of coming home after work and hiring a full-on development team and DevEx’ing from there for additional money (I thought about finances as a child).
Luckily the ‘tax fee’ is going to a good cause, and I understand the DevRel is constantly trying to satisfy their developers. I’m sure this cleared misconceptions for many developers; developers have surely enjoyed the response.
As far as I am aware of (correct me if I’m wrong) the DevEX rates increased from $.0025USD/R$ to $.0035USD/R$ which is an improvement. As far as I’m concerned, the DevEx rates are satisfying and content, and there is no need for a raise. The DevRel will surely conclude something better than me.
And for the developers reading, thank you for reading. Happy developing, and I hope you can successfully provide for your family, and maintain a positive income on-top of all your expenses.
which means you shouldn’t say something like…
There are developers here trying to make this their job and are struggling.
I feel like Roblox’s response to this is just a nice way of saying “sorry, that’s just the way it is”.
I’ve read multiple posts concerning the DevForum, and I can guarantee a successful game developer can make more than a doctor, which is very reasonable.
If you want a link to one, here it is.
Edit: I don’t know how other developers may feel. You may be right to some extent.
Edit 2: I am not against the DevEx rates to be increased, but I feel they are fine. If they are increased, that is good.
You’re missing the point of his response, you’re not experienced with the real world value of Dev Exing, your experience with it is limited to what you’ve heard.
Also, an individual may make more than a doctor in a year if they are a solo dev, but they most certainly can’t support a team off of that. Remember, hiring as few as one person can take a giant percent out of a group’s earnings, sometimes halving it depending on their contribution to the project.
That is true, I haven’t experienced DevEx’ing first hand. I’ve played your Digimon game as a child, so I now know you’re a developer.
It may be hard for developers to make a living with the provided conditions, so I guess I have a weak say on this.
Anyways, happy developing.
Note that the post you linked said “top devs”. Yeah, I have no doubt that if you’re making MeepCity or Phantom Forces that you’re set. But not everyone is.
Also, this raise that you’re talking about happened years ago iirc
Google Play and Apple App Store are payments processors, such as PayPal, Stripe, etc. These app stores literally act in the exact same capacity as PayPal. They store payment information, and they provide a payment to a merchent without releasing your payment details.
You also are failing to understand that processing fees charged directly between ROBLOX and payments networks (payments made on the Roblox site rather than through Google Play or the Apple App Store for example) incure fees per-transaction. Roblox makes a smaller percent of the sale on a $5 purchase than a $100 purchase because companies like Visa charge a flat rate at minimum.
It’s not reasonable to give developers a percentage of the proceeds per original transaction, and it’s terribly abstract for developers, and it means developers see different amounts of profit on the exact same item sale (which is bad).
Top devs are definitely making a lot (I’d assume more than enough for an individual) but if a game isn’t as popular, it isn’t fair to blame all of one’s grievances on Roblox. Looking at the original thread, it seems that the original problem is that increasing the quality of games on Roblox requires an increased production cost but these cannot be met because the proper target audience isn’t as prevalent on the platform, leading to an endless cycle. I agree with this but simply increasing DevEx rates won’t solve any problem. I’m not going to pretend like I know a solution because if it was as simple as many claim, it would have been done already but Roblox itself making an effort to attract older audiences with its rebranding and all definitely helps.
Thanks for the quick response and explaining everything!
I hope you do understand that if you removed the 30% tax, then for the same profits to be made, Roblox would have to lower the DevEx rate by 30%?
See it like this.
We have User A. Let’s call them Alice.
We have Developer B. Lets call them Bob.
The current system:
Alice buys 250 R$. A great present from her parents for good grades. This costs 2.00 Alice then decides to join Bobs game, Ghost Tension(tm). She buys 10 x 25 R passes from Bob.
On each of these purchases, Bob sees 17 R$ for each of those, so in total he sees 170 R$. Oh no! But he wants to be able to DevEx faster.
As a crafty solution to fix this, he raises the price to 36 R$. Now he gets 25 R$ per purchase. But oh wait! That means Alice can only buy 6 passes from Bob, so her money runs out faster.
Alice really wants these passes. She convinces her parents to buy some more Robux. They spend $1.50 more.
End result, they’ve spent $3.50 USD for 10 product purchases in the game, and spent more USD per Robux.
Without the marketplace tax, Bob doesn’t raise his prices, and so whilst he gets the same amount in Robux, Roblox is forced to lower the DevEx rates because by removing the 30% fee, they have decreased the value of Robux.
I understand this is slightly convoluted, but I hope you now understand it isn’t as simple as “just remove it” - the tax isn’t some relic from another time, it is a fairly critical piece in the monetization structure of the platform.
I don’t even care about the DevEx rate, to be honest. I love tools that allow developers with games that aren’t popular to gain that spotlight for long enough to see some success. Advertisements are the most basic form of it, then they have featuring, games with rthro/new tech, etc.
Stuff like that is great.
What happens to all the Robux earned by botted “Locked” groups sales? The clothing and games still earn Robux that goes 100% to Roblox. Considering the “top favorited” page of clothing have thousands upon thousands of these clothes in groups that have been locked one could say that Roblox is making a good bit of money off of clothing they didn’t create. The original artist aren’t making anything off these botted copies. This is making it impossible for most original clothing designers to DevEx or even to dream of it.