Roblox needs to rethink UGC's future "features"

[Blizzei]

As a Roblox UGC Creator since 2021, it’ll be impossible to keep afloat with all of the sudden changes they planning regarding UGC

This isn’t going to be about UGC going public since that was planned for years at this point and that is inevitable. However looking into the RDC discussion about their vision what they want to do for the UGC program, it’s extremely disheartening and will pretty much take away livable wage from any notable UGC creator and prevent new ones from being able to prosper.

Here’s a picture of part of the RDC discussion regarding UGC and i will explain more about the “healthy marketplace” and how parts of it is not healthy, because most people reading this doesn’t do UGC most likely and will need further explanation on how its a problem.

Gradual transition of non-limited creations to flexible quantity

Basically this means that any item that is not limited on the catalog right now, will have limited amounts of stock and will have to be replenished by buying the quantity every time something sells out. Bear in mind many UGC creators have over 500 items published on the catalog at this very moment. this means they will have to monitor and manually restock those 500 items and counting which is going to be practically impossible to do.

• This means creators will be forced to raise their prices of their items in order to make a profit, as it costs money to add stock to items (10 robux for face acc, 20 robux for hats, 30 robux for back acc PER stock quantity)
• not buying the quantity will punish creators due to the fact reselling items gives the UGC creator only 10% instead of the 30% revenue they get.
• on average my own UGC items only generate 7-8 robux per sale, so i would be forced to double the prices of my own items in order to see the same numbers on the revenue page if the amount of purchases are consistent.
• we SHOULDN’T be punished for having items that sell well by being forced to buy quantity all the time

Monthly Publishing Limits

There’s a difference between publishing an item and putting the item on sale, this means if your thumbnail glitches or there is some sort of error you didn’t notice about the item, that is one wasted slot for the month even when it’s not put on sale

• there should be more configurations set for items already published such as updating thumbnails of items
• UGC creators before going public shouldn’t have monthly limits, they’ve tested all the features that has came out and there should be some better compromise for us that makes up for all of the nerfing done in this update.

My own suggestions and how it’d be better

• NO NON-LIMITED QUANTITY, we shouldn’t need to rebuy stock of items to be bought as that is basically punishing everyone involved

• monthly limits should be only set when putting the item onsale incase of error.

• being able to change thumbnail for existing items will help us creators not need to reupload until the thumbnail looks good

• Giving UGC creators before public more freedom/privilege’s such as having zero upload limits, etc

I feel like reconsidering the choices for UGC would help us creators not get ultimately screwed over in way more words than i can describe. if you need to please actually communicate with us so theres a proper middle ground and go through with it

Other UGC Creators or others are welcome to pitch in more suggestions that i have missed or input just in general due to this being a really serious topic

This isn’t only me that has a problem with this, there’s many others that have voiced their opinions/suggestions regarding this update that i will put below here:

Roblox's UGC future features and creator's opinion's/views

The recent changes in Roblox’s policies, specifically the introduction of monthly publishing limits, mandatory stock refills, and the premium-only requirement for existing creators, have sparked significant concern within the Roblox creator community. These changes are problematic for several reasons and may adversely affect many creators. Financial Impact: Roblox creators already face a substantial revenue split, with Roblox taking 70% of the earnings from general items. The mandatory stock re…

[Melecody]

I think strongly that alot of these changes will be a benefactor for the ugc downfall, there’s alot of stuff that’s pushing less creativity and the market wise.
I agree strongly with these things that you said.

[Empyror]

Great post. Strongly agreed with many points and I believe Roblox should reconsider a decision like this as it will negatively impact not only the market but the livelihood of a lot of creators who depend on creating cosmetics.

[Iskender_Argead]

You’d figure that everyone would have learned from the techbro NFT craze, but apparently not… Nice and succinct, Blizzei.

[TypeDummy (TypeRamadan)]

Also, regarding the idea they had with transitioning Non-Limiteds into Flexible quantities;

• The Problem:

Best-selling items usually only make up for around 60% of a creator’s (with 1,000+ items) earnings; they’d be missing out on that other 30% that comes from the items that sell 30-50 times a day, then 5% would be the items that sell three times a day.

You’d still lose money even if the idea were to keep only your best-selling items up.

It’s a ridiculous system that does not work on a virtual marketplace; they keep comparing it with a physical marketplace.

• Hypothetical Situation:

A creator earns 1,000,000 Robux a month, and they have 500 items on the catalog. 60% comes from their best-selling items, 35% from mid-selling items, and 5% from those that sell around 3-4+ times a day.

Their items average 50 robux; roblox takes 70% and leaves the creator with a mere 30%; 15 robux. Under this idea, they average about 66k sales a month.

But wait! Under the idea that 1 stock = 1 robux; a creator is actually earning 14 robux now!

With this brand new proposed idea, the creator, if they were to even maintain this at the same hypothetical rate of 1 stock = 1 robux they would not only be spending 66,676 robux to keep these items up (Per Month), but now they’re only earning 933k Robux.

Now, let’s think… who is winning? Roblox or the creators: Roblox is getting an extra robuck off that ginormous 70% margin they’re already taking, and the creator has to manually go through each month and replenish the stock each month.

Not to mention, this idea plays into the factor that the creator knows how much-replenished stock an item needs to the dot. This issue grows even larger if it’s on a larger scale of over 500+ items at an average of 15 robux off each sale. The creator loses more and more depending on how many items they have, and if they want to downscale this and turn to their best-selling items, they lose 40% of their earnings!

In summary, Roblox has no idea what they’re doing; it is just another money-hungry business taking even more from UGC creators. Apparently, the 70% is not enough, which now turns into

1. Paying for replenished stock (Roblox earns more of the 70% now)
2. $10 Premium per month (Roblox Earns more than 70% + Replenishing Fee)

And that’s just the Robux; after devex, the creator, in reality, is only getting about ~10% of what they earn for Roblox + Paying for Sponsorships + Paying a $10/per month Premium.

• Now, let’s be fair: What are the possible benefits of implementing Flexible Quantities?

Well, for starters, this could solve the ‘race to the bottom’ idea mentioned at RDC 22’, because now creators with low-priced items are marking a robuck off each sale, and it costs even more, to replenish stock to keep up with the demand of low priced items; this creates a brand new demand for an item when it comes back in stock and requires users to turn to higher priced items. In turn, it still creates the problems mentioned in the above hypothetical situation.

I encourage Roblox and Creators to recognize how malicious this flexible quantity idea is when dealing with a large variety of individual items; question who is winning here, who is earning more?

More often than not, Roblox points to it “marketing your item for you” as the reason they’re taking a 70% cut, but is this even the case? Most of Roblox’s operating costs come from hosting servers and games, not ‘Recommending Items.’ So why are UGC Creators beaten so heavily with every update?

If a UGC Creator earns Roblox ~$100,000 for work that they created and Roblox merely hosts and places in sorts, why is it that Roblox feels it has the right to take a ~$90,000 cut (After Dev-Ex) and leave the creator of the actual asset with a mere ~$10,000? This is a giant you know what to any of the UGC Creators on the platform.

[kiwixlc (kiwi)]

This addresses most of my issues with the changes announced at RDC. I’m deeply confused and disgusted by the planned direction of the marketplace, and I hope- no, pray that this movement toward artificial scarcity is abandoned.

We as UGC creators lose over 90% of our revenue to “fees” between the abysmal 30% creator cut and current DevEx rate. We should not be footing yet another bill, nor should the new talent that will arrive when the program goes public.

Do better for the people that tested this program for you.

[BloxzyUGC (Bloxzy)]

100% agree (adding for character limit)

[Clockset]

Well said. While public UGC is a big update, the various changes that will arrive with it will be catastrophic to new and old creators alike.

[luka007]

This idea definitely requires more surveying and testing with creators before even beginning on the implementation. Too many tools are required to even make flexible items viable for creators, and even then the choice is controversial.

Many creators are afraid of the swap to a completely different economic model, this will most likely not pan out properly if communication and one on one participation is low. Communication is key, and Blizzei’s post properly lists out all of the issues that may affect the longevity of the catalog and the new market model.

[NightModels]

Yeah I am very disappointed in Roblox for making this choice to go public with UGC.
It will truly be a disaster!

[PointMelon]

I agree, feels like roblox’s goal is to make ugc like real - world markets but the issues of having to restock every item is just adding problems not fixing anything.

[offstari (OFFSTAR)]

Im fully agree on what you said, from my look i think Roblox aleardy “has” best creators such as @Yourius, @Empyror you and many others that have applied.

Although because of the Money Hungry move, bad update will make them hop into other platforms or even worse, I dont really see a reason of taking even more % instead of raising it because who will mind buying your item when theres always gonna be " DoMiNuAuS oRigINalItuIum 10o% n0t stolen IP " or “Valiantum Valkirium Domino PizzA cRown Clockwork Hood with feathers green ice crown” but even if your item is getting sales, obviously someone need to rip it out and use it as their item without even asking permission from you or original modeler.

Also as UGC Collaborator, id need to lurk the Catalog and see if no one uses my meshes without my permission or even worse steal 1:1 texture and meshes, i clearly dont see anything profitable and usefull that could keep me on this platform.

[CodFlSH (Cod)]

It seems like Roblox is playing at being like Google & Youtube by making incredibly out of left-field updates that make the creators on their platform question the viability of doing what they enjoy. Great stuff.

[abis_two (Luca)]

Great post, I agree with a lot of the points made. I’ve only been releasing UGC for a few months now and these new changes are going to make staying afloat way harder for myself and other new creators. Not to mention making profit harder for even OG creators.

[Darkus_Blox (Darkus)]

At this point I feel like UGC is going to be complete chaos.

[Ryxku]

I know Roblox wants to look cool for every public with IA and free UGC for everyone but they need to think it’s IMPOSSIBLE. Roblox will never be adaptable to any audience, to any type of person, they’ll always find reasons to hate this platform.
Some people are not made to make 3D accessories without studying 3D softwares and lessons.
What I’m sure of is that all the people who have worked hard on Roblox up to now have got what they deserved in terms of visibility and access like UGC, many of them doing it with passion. AI shouldn’t be used for this, because it will generalize our work, because tomorrow there’ll be a noob with no experience, he’ll generate something and he’ll make the Internet believe he’s a talented artist thanks to it.
And if we do things manually that are inferior to what has been generated by the AI (yes, the AI does beautiful things, but that’s not a good sign).
After seeing the future features, I’m starting to dislike AI more and more and the idea of letting anyone generate beautiful things. I’m not saying this because I’d be jealous of people using AI without talent, but because I fear that many people will use it in a malicious way.

You would know why I’m talking about AI and not the 90% fees that Roblox will take from us.
It’s because Roblox is making AI so we can make poor accessories everywhere and no more reason to remunate the good creators like before!

[OutlookG (Outlook)]

Embarrassing on Roblox’s part.

While I’ve always agreed UGC should be public for all and that barriers should be removed, requiring premium and capping uploads is not the way to go about this.

Forcing creators to sell limiteds only is not the way you make more money, limiteds are extremely expensive to upload and with the current cut UGC creators receive this is unsustainable and unaffordable.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This is an embarrassing mess and a insult to every ugc creator who has built this program up over the past 4 years.

Do better, or you’ll lose UGC creators and lose money.

[Maggy_Rarefication (Maggy)]

Thank you for this post! I am going through the same dilemma that many of the other creators are seeing when it comes to these updates and I hope Roblox really makes some revisions as this is not the direction many creators are hoping for if they want to continue having a future in the creation of 3D assets.

[FileSaved]

The push for every UGC accessory being limited is pretty terrible from a consumer’s perspective too. Users are essentially left to constantly stare at the catalog in hopes that they don’t miss an item that they like. If they do, then they have to wait an entire month just to see if anybody’s reselling it. In that amount of time, it’s likely that people are gonna completely forget about items they otherwise would’ve proudly bought and worn. Not only that, but it’s entirely possible to run into situations where items just won’t have resellers, effectively killing any potential revenue on it.

Even ignoring all of that, I just struggle to see how every item on the market being limited stock could possibly promote a healthy market. A lot of what drives sales for an item is the fear of missing out. The fact that an item is only available for a set period of time is part of what generates that desire to buy it fast. However, this doesn’t work as well if every single item is a limited. Without some items that are always available for purchase, people are likely to get burnt out and disengage with the catalog entirely. The amount of energy it’ll take just to buy a specific hair style or a simple top hat will completely outweigh any desirability the items may have.

[Abcreator]

@Blizzei

Gradual transition of non-limited creations to flexible quantity

Basically this means that any item that is not limited on the catalog right now, will have limited amounts of stock and will have to be replenished by buying the quantity every time something sells out. Bear in mind many UGC creators have over 500 items published on the catalog at this very moment. this means they will have to monitor and manually restock those 500 items and counting which is going to be practically impossible to do.

From a user perspective this is also hurtful since all items will rely on stock existing, if a UGC creator goes inactive or doesn’t decide to re-stock, and players don’t want to sell (or more likely) decide to sell for extortionate prices, any player who simply wants the accessory is at the mercy of those who wish to sell it rather than just a price tag.

@Blizzei

there should be more configurations set for items already published such as updating thumbnails of items

As someone who had a friend who published an item to find out that the thumbnail bugged out and turned the item 180 degrees the wrong way, this is certainly something we need.

@Blizzei

UGC creators before going public shouldn’t have monthly limits, they’ve tested all the features that has came out and there should be some better compromise for us that makes up for all of the nerfing done in this update.

While I agree with everything mentioned in this post, this is something I unfortunately can’t agree with, Roblox’s goal when it comes to the marketplace is a “fair marketplace”. Allowing a higher amount of uploads for previous UGC creators is obviously not a fair system as those creators will always have an upper-advantage over those without those privileges in the marketplace.