Increase DevEx Rates

So if I’m understanding correctly, a 30% raise? I don’t get it.

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How do you feel that this change would affect inflation and Roblox’s ability to remove currency from circulation as a result?

Also, is it appropriate to increase the stress/risk of using the DevEx system by increasing rates rather than alternate exchange methods?

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There’s nothing innovative about increasing it 1/0.7 times over increasing it by any other amount, that’s still just an increase that means Roblox spends more money and we get more money. The extra money doesn’t magically appear out of nowhere. For all we know the current rate could already be adjusted for market fee. So this introduces no new argument in favor of increasing the cut we get unfortunately. The cashout rate is just the cashout rate, it doesn’t care about other fees, it’s always the same.

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Yeah, nevermind what I said. What I brought up wouldn’t work cause the taxes and value of robux would stay the same but only the cashout rate would change. Which just means losing more money on Roblox’ end, unless players start magically buying more robux on a consistent basis as soon as that change happens. Which won’t happen.

It was an idea of how far Roblox could “realistically” go with increasing the devrate; it actually came out as a 43% increase because it was assumed that if a developer were to somehow get 350k robux that has only been taxed once, he/she would be exchanging 70% of that batch’s earnings (0.7*143 = 100). This was a bad approximation because of the very nature of how I came with that number.

After rethinking my idea it doesn’t seem like changing the rates rightaway is a great idea. I think Roblox is working its way to doing that by adding more sources of revenue and making roblox development more appealing by introducing new prices related to online memberships etc. (with premium being cheaper than bc (and doing immediate robux payouts when purchasing premium so users are more compelled to buy more robux when said gifted robux runs out)) before changing any devexrate.

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Please hear me out. I know there are many developers that agree with these claims!

Roblox takes more money from Developers than any other platform, in fact they take more money from developers than Steam and Epic Games combined.

Steam - 30%
Epic Games - 12%
Roblox - 80.4%

How do I figure this? Well lets dive into some math shall we?

DevEx Rate: 1 Robux = .0035$ (At the time of writing a Doge Coin is worth more than a DevEx Robux :joy:)
Marketplace Rate: 1 Robux = .0125$

Player buys 400 Robux for $4.99. Player buys a gamepass in developers game for 400 Robux. Developer makes 280 Robux off this exchange. 280 Robux converted at the Marketplace Rate would be equivalent to $3.50. Now on any other platform this is where the transaction would end, the developer would pocket the $3.50 and the host would pocket $1.49, but this isn’t any other platform. This is Roblox, where sadly greed is king.

The second any Robux are purchased they must instantly be valued at DevEx Rates. So that $3.50 that you would of normally made becomes a grant total off… $0.98 Congratulations! You made 98 cents off a $5 purchase! Now you pocket $0.98 and the host pockets $4.02, youre basically being ripped off.

The math behind this claim
400 * (1 - .3) = 280 (Robux Earned | 400 is the Robux spent | 1 - .3 accounts for the marketplace fee)
.0035 * 280 = 0.98 (USD Earned | .0035 is the current DevEx Rate | 280 is Robux Earned)
0.98 / (400 * .0125) = 0.196 (Percentage Developer Makes | 0.98 is USD made | 400 * .0125 Is USD originally spent)
1 - 0.196 = 0.804 (Percentage Roblox Makes | This is self explanatory)

Heres some formulas
(DevEx Rate * (Robux Spent * (1 - Marketplace Fee))) | This tells you the amount of USD you would make off a specified amount of Robux with the current DevEx rates and Marketplace fees.

Example: (.0035 * (5000 * (1 - .3))) = $12.25

Robux Spent * Marketplace Fee | This tells you how much the player originally spent for your gamepass.

Example: 5000 * .0125 = $62.50

12.25 / 62.50 = .196 meaing Roblox took ~80% of your potential earnings.

Heres some code
Feel free to paste this code into a script in Studio and fool around with it, see how much USD you are going to make off your ingame purchases and also see how much you could potentially make by fooling around with the rates. You really get a feeling for how much Roblox is taking from you compared to other platforms.

local DevExRate = .0035
local MarketplaceRate = .0125
local MarketplaceFee = .3 -- 30%

local function CalculateEarnings(PriceInRobux)
	local DeveloperMakes = (DevExRate * (PriceInRobux * (1 - MarketplaceFee)))
	local RobloxMakes = (PriceInRobux * MarketplaceRate) - DeveloperMakes
	
	return "At the current rates a purchase of " .. PriceInRobux .. " Robux or $" .. tostring((PriceInRobux * MarketplaceRate))  .. " would give you $" 
		.. tostring(DeveloperMakes) .. " and Roblox $" .. tostring(RobloxMakes) 
end

print(CalculateEarnings(500))

Thank you and hopefully something can be changed. 80% is an absurd amount of revenue to be taking from developers. If anyone has anything they would like to comment on please do :slight_smile: Have a great day!

EDIT: I don think I am a high enough member level to reply to questions about this post. You will have to DM me for me to answer any questions.

To reply to @Autterfly Roblox is a private company valued at over 4 billion USD. I am 100% sure they can afford to increase DevEx from .0035 to .005.

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There has been long discussions about the very big differences between something like Steam, Epic Games and Roblox before. Have you considered that a lot of the revenue goes into providing you as a developer with services that other platforms don’t offer?

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There’s a ton of useful info here. Roblox are very familiar with our thoughts, since then we’ve been given Premium Payouts which is great for developers that haven’t monetized but usually a 15% increase for those that have.

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I truly hope that, at some point, people voice their concerns enough for this change to take place. This issue deserves more attention and discussion. Some may believe there’s no point in talking about it, assuming it won’t lead to change, but I strongly disagree.

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Personally, I think the rates are great. I remember back when premium payouts were non-existent and you only made like a few percent of the robux users spent on your game, not to mention you needed things like Builders Club just to transact. I’ve tried DevEx and I’m a happy chappy. I agree it is quite low but they’ve listened to us and they do provide us with a huge set of features and a player base.

The App Store Fees are absolutely bonkers and ridiculous, that is beyond theft it’s a war crime. How come they are getting an equal share as us and Roblox itself? They didn’t engineer a fantastic engine and put in hundreds of hours of work into their games! Surely Roblox can push against this? Loads of users are on PC? 24.9% SHARE!?!

I have been working on my own engine now since I am too used to Roblox’s one yet I am unhappy with my revenue and the way mine and other games are pushed down (not to mention that I can’t customize and optimize the physics). In the end this all turns back on Roblox as they lose developers to other more enticing platforms. This is less of a plea but more of a indirect threat that developers will quit. Unturned and Lethal Company for example… But in the end, its all good imo, we should chill out a bit.

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