If they’re going to go public with UGC, just delete Limiteds at this point, people are making 1:1 copies already with 0 repercussions. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when everyone has access to make copies of items like this.
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This is a really thorough analysis and helps put into perspective how these changes will actually take affect realistically for the new creator, and even for existing creators.
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It’s weird of what they shifted towards from last year. Public UGC was always going to be a thing eventually, but to then drop it suddenly like this with no forewarning, with these changes already apparently set in stone or at least concluded upon by who knows who. On a private convention where the invite process seems to be arbitrary already. It’s a really bad look for them and I can’t imagine how they’re going to regain the trust of the current batch of UGC creators and even the community itself with this act of lack of transparency.
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Reading all of those UGC creators public tweets, it makes me really sad specially for i_sininho. To think that someone who supports their father who just had a stroke, her mother and brother who just lost their job, will lose their job is grim. If the plans of Roblox UGC for the future continues, most creators, and i_sininho will not be able to provide for her family anymore, she will as she quoted “not have anything to eat at home and starve”, her electricity will be cut off for months on end, she and her whole family will be jeopardized of getting evicted from their home. It is very crucial for Roblox to listen to their developers, to listen to our voices and screams of help, and to improve the future plans of UGC
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I’m outright devastated. Not only did we UGC creators spend years of our time for this program, but a lot of us make our living wage off of the program! Between publishing fees, buying stock, and the devex rate, Roblox is literally taking 90% of our money!
We really need to fix this.
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Basically, its the bad ending for ugc creators and aspiring creators. No one can afford to do business and roblox steals all of your money.
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A simple solution to this problem is to re-price items in a way that you receive the same profit amount as before the change. However, this seems like a really weird gimmicky thing that is just not needed.
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I just wonder if there’s a way Roblox could get community feedback from developers on this change. If only there was some site they could ask opinions on. Almost like… a Community Panel that could survey opinions for a feature before the decision to release or plan for the feature.
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Thats more of a compromise than a solution, mass majority of the player base is used to buying things the cheapest possible nowadays since that’s what the catalog environments became. Having items go up suddenly by 3x the amount is going to make them not be able to buy as many things as they were able to back then, making it way less sales for the creator
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Everything around this announcement feels like Roblox understands that this is going to hurt creators and players, but continues to push towards it anyways.
Walking away from accessibility after working so hard to lower the costs to develop experiences on the platform, hiding this announcement in a portion of RDC 2023 that wasn’t openly streamed on YouTube, propping up numbers which anyone experienced on the platform know don’t mean much.
Maybe a shareholder starts drooling when they hear “80% of resale transactions are higher than original price”, but anyone who’s invested real time into the Roblox Marketplace knows the two biggest reasons for that number are top devs giving away Limiteds at an original price of 0 robux, and the fact that resellers get a 50% cut off of resold Limiteds, requiring them to double the price to break even.
How can David Baszucki say that Roblox is trying to put as much money in the developer’s hands as possible when creators can expect FIVE CENTS OR LESS for every dollar players spend on resold limiteds?
I think this post by /u/BricksmithBillie over on Reddit highlights a lot of the issues I believe are important to consider here. From the miniscule pay cut, to the lack of freedom to creators, to the fact that this stomps on any excitement people had for the potential of a fanmade egg hunt to follow up on the tradition Roblox abandoned a few years back.
https://www.reddit.com/r/roblox/comments/16fcta8/the_future_of_ugc_is_limited/
Was incredibly excited to get back to UGC and try making some dynamic heads after recently getting out of a bad personal situation IRL. Hard to want to invest my time in a Marketplace destined to fail, knowing I still need to make rent money.
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I’m not a UGC creator (nor really much of a serious developer) so I can only realistically say so much, but here’s my take on the topic;
I’m extremely disappointed that Roblox has chosen to go down this route with the public UGC program. I was very optimistic when it came to the thought that one day everyone could create their own accessories on the platform. The mission of Roblox is to allow everyone to create everything and anything so public UGC was just simply another step towards that ultimate goal.
I’ve always contested the 30% cut as-is, it’s extremely absurd that experience creators can earn more in revenue from an accessory being sold simply because they included the option to purchase it in their experiences. So seeing that Roblox’s “solution” is to go down a route that will ultimately mean creators earn even less is very disappointing to say the least.
100% agree; I think the solution for this would to ensure that the monthly limit is reasonably high, having different limits for groups and individuals (as groups may have more creators publishing accessories), and a system where users (or groups) in good standing can apply for increases in that limit.
In short, I do agree that Roblox should rethink the UGC program especially as it becomes opened up to everyone. Roblox should be valuing a more open market or at least a market that only employs restrictions and barriers when it truly benefits the entire marketplace. I’ve been a strong believer in Roblox’s mission of connecting the world through the power of play, but with the increasing amount of misjudgements Roblox’s management has been taking, I’m starting to think that Roblox seriously needs a net set of hands on the management realm (that includes (as much as we love him) replacing David Baszucki.)
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I really hope I’m wrong about this - but between reading the documents aimed at investors and the documentation aimed at developers I’m seeing a bleak outcome forming.
If the goal over the next two quarters is to overhaul the marketplace to mirror a real-world economy/free market system and push toward immersive experience based sales then this change is looking dire.
The mirror I see feels like individual creators are going to be priced out of production and end up competing to work for well-funded devs or the brand partner cohorts waiting in the wings, who will then profit off the labor of whomever accepts the lowest pay for comparable talent.
This move is potentially a dark path to go down - if it’s the mirror, then it’s the black mirror version. Again, I hope I’m wrong about this.
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I have discussed my side of this here:
For everyone interested in this topic, I’d suggest to give it a read.
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I strongly agree with this, Roblox should reconsider the future features that they have planned for UGC. This will completely ruin the Avatar Marketplace, make creators earn way less than what they already are (it’s also very low currently), and make it way more competitive. You basically won’t make anything at all and this will affect a lot of creators. You got to consider this is also their job that they rely on.
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This is an incredibly insightful post, and one that many from this thread should read. I’ve posted additional thoughts there.
As much as we discuss the creators affected, from the perspective of a consumer, this is a major step back as well. Creators will have to increase item prices across the board to compete with the growing costs of upholding a stable catalog, so buyers will have to deal with item price increases (of up to 2x - 3x even).
With the price floor for hats staying at 50 robux, for instance, this would start a race to the bottom as there would be new opportunities to undercut fellow creators and take advantage of the changes, causing an incredibly unhealthy marketplace situation.
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I’m not sure if this has been said yet (there’s a lot of comments): but in the event that an item’s stock runs out, and resellers are pricing the item above 750R$, there’s not a whole lot stopping general users from uploading a copy of that same item for themselves and paying out the 750R$ upload fee when UGC is public.
This could result in most resellers to max their prices at 750R$, which ruins the resale market for them as well.
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There are no words to describe how abhorrent and willfully ignorant these changes are, let alone how devastating they will be.
As a creator blessed with the opportunity to join the program at the start, it has been continually disheartening to see disappointing decision after decision that benefits absolutely no-one involved. This will really be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, as it not only causes creators to suffer, but players as well. Why implement the dreadful problems and caveats of the real-world market into a platform that is supposed to facilitate fun and creativity, in which many use as an escape from the real world itself? What is there to gain from making every single item limited, forcing creators to hemorrhage what money they have left to replenish artificial stock for potentially hundreds of items that they don’t even know they will break even on, let alone profit from? I joined the UGC Program to share my art and passion, creating items that players can use to express themselves, not to artificially pump imaginary stock into virtual items that should otherwise always be readily available for players to purchase whenever they want without consequence.
This will be the end of livelihoods that depend on UGC. The end of our ability to share the creations we love and freedom of the market. This is a massive misstep in the wrong direction. I will not sit here and stand by as all of the amazing creators and players alike I have met suffer from unnecessary problems introduced by a misguided “vision” of a Metaverse.
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This is honestly disappointing & Demotivating me to apply for UGC.
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Thing is that is exactly what they’re trying to achieve, which is completely illogical since this is entirely digital
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The UGC accessories program was always in ALPHA. ALPHA != stable, so changes like this are to be expected. People should not rely on ALPHA anything as stable income, especially since the program first started unsaturated and that’s not scalable.
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