UGC Catalog is Now Live!

Hey developers,

We just completed a live test of our User-Generated Content (UGC) catalog. We are now enabling everybody on Roblox to view and buy items from the UGC catalog.

The UGC catalog will enable creators to publish and sell their own hats and other accessories to others on Roblox.

Initially, only a select few developers will be able to upload their creations to the UGC catalog. This group will give us feedback on the process and help us discover anything that we should change before we give access to broader groups. Our initial group will consist of a small number of developers. We will be expanding this incrementally in the future; see the below FAQ for more details.

As we move the platform to be increasingly driven by content created by our developer community, we seek to empower you to shape Roblox to be the experience that you want it to be.

Since we anticipate a lot of questions about this feature, we’ve compiled a list of some of the questions that have already been frequently asked:

FAQ:

Q: When will new waves of developers be given access to this feature? How are the developers chosen?
A: We will be adding more developers in small waves throughout the rest of 2019 and 2020. For the initial group, we chose developers who we have worked with in the past who also have experience with 3D modeling. The criteria for future developers given access is an ongoing discussion.


Q: Does selling Accessories in the UGC Catalog work the same way as selling other asset (e.g. the developer gets a cut of the profit)?
A: For UGC Accessories, just like UGC Shirts, T-shirts, and Pants, the creator will earn a cut. A lot of pieces of this program (like the fees Roblox takes on these items) will be adjusted over time. We will be testing different revenue sharing models to find the right balance - we want this program to be sustainable and benefit creators and players.


Q: How does Roblox ensure nobody just reuploads assets from the Roblox catalog or other peoples’ creations?
A: This is a hard problem to solve, and we’re still working on a solution that works at a large scale. This is part of the reason that the UGC catalog creator program is currently small and hard to get into - we have learned from shirts and pants and we are being very careful and thoughtful about these new UGC asset types. Asset copying between our creators (and Roblox) is protected against in the program policy.


Q: Will these assets go through moderation in the same ways as other assets?
A: Yep! We are also improving our moderation tools as the UGC catalog expands.


Q: Does Roblox plan to allow developers to sell UGC Accessories as Limited and Limited Unique items? Will Roblox stop making new Limited items?
A: For now, creators cannot release Limited, Limited Unique, or resellable UGC items. This is something we hope to open up as the UGC catalog becomes available to more creators. Roblox will keep making Limited items - we’re currently working on fixes in response to issues seen earlier this year, which is why you haven’t seen new Limited items lately.


Q: What asset types will be available in the UGC catalog and when?
A: At this time, we will be starting with Hat Accessories and incrementally adding support for other Accessories going forward.


Q: Will developers need to be Builder’s Club members to upload items to the UGC catalog?
A: Currently this is not a requirement to upload to the UGC catalog, since we have such a limited set of creators already. This may change in the future.


Q: What are the price floors and ceilings for selling UGC items? Will they differ by asset type?
A: The floor and ceiling for UGC item prices are subject to change depending on our first run of developers uploading to the UGC catalog. During this, we will be looking for the right numbers for us to stick with. Our initial price floors and ceilings are set based on the price ranges Roblox tends to see the most success with. Currently, for Hats, the floor is set at 120 R$. Other Accessory types may have different floors and ceilings when we enable UGC support for them.


Q: Will Groups be able to upload to the UGC catalog?
A: Long term, we want to allow Groups to upload to the UGC catalog. Group clothing stores are a very popular way to sell UGC Shirts and Pants and we want to enable this for other UGC asset types too.


Q: How will we know if we got picked to be part of the program?
A: We will have a much clearer process available in the future in regards to choosing developers to take part in the early stages of this program. Stay tuned for more information on that front.


Q: What can developers do to bring attention to their UGC items when the catalog becomes more open and allows more creators?
A: We have created a new category in the Catalog to highlight the new UGC item types. As we expand the program, we will be discussing what other methods of advertising make sense.


Q: Will there be a way to reward players in-game with UGC items?
A: We definitely want to allow rewarding UGC items in-game in the future - this has been an important part of events as long as they’ve been around, and we want to empower developers to make awesome games and events with prizes. However, since UGC items cannot currently be free, we’re still working on the best way to enable rewarding them as prizes. Additionally, UGC catalog items can currently be sold through games just as Roblox-owned catalog items can.


If you are interested in learning more about our plans for the UGC catalog and the future of the Roblox avatar, we highly recommend checking out the “Future of Avatar” presentation by Matt Brown given at RDC this weekend. You can access the video of the talk here and the slides presented here.

Thanks,
Developer Relations

Shout out to the team that made this possible: @givenothingback, @RoxyBloxyy, @n00b3n, @bitwiseandrea, @St4rst0n3, @WildSanity, @Rostelas, @CalGamesDev, @FarazTheGreat, @Osyris, @IittIehomie, @iriszh, @OuNissan, @Captain_Rando, @portenio

1488 Likes

Never thought this would see the light of day. Extremely excited for the possibilities that lies ahead. Thank you so much!

Although i’m worried about the impact on current limiteds. Especially once UGC limiteds becomes a reality, what stops the whole market from crashing down? Previously seen non-limited items resembling limiteds has made a negative impact on sales therefore hurt all owners of the item.

290 Likes

…that quickly? I was expecting a longer wait after RDC occurred.

UGC has definitely been one of the more long-awaited features and clearly the volume of awaiting responses and hype to release items for it are crazy. I of course have my respective concerns about moderation but I’m sure it’s addressed in the FAQ I totally just read.

You know what though? Here’s what I’m hoping: that developers make good use of the catalog from now on. There’s been a lot of games that have customisation lately or have made their own systems, but I’m hoping in that developers will start allowing UGC items to appear in their games or base systems off of it. For example, owning X does Y (gives you a special cosmetic or tool that’s game-specific).

It’s still too early to tell anything special, but here’s to hoping for UGC’s success and to a grand pay-off for something we’ve been hyping up for a while.

Perhaps we can be allowed to award items in the future to bring back the fun of Roblox events? Seeing that we will be able to award UGC items in the future… Roblox events, anyone? Let’s get some seasonal events back and this time, the community runs the show! :smile:

324 Likes

I’m temporarily closing the topic until I’m satisfied that you’ve had enough time to read the announcement. A lot of the concerns in these posts are in the FAQ already.

247 Likes

This topic was automatically opened after 102 minutes.

This is awesome, and I can’t wait to see what the entry requirements for public release is going to end up being, people have been making some really cool models! This is all very exciting stuff, and I cant wait to see how far it evolves come public release!

eyeseesyou


catpack3
backpackbudy
fortunyat one
Webp.net-gifmaker
dogbow
bowlerspiiiin
beanie
blackcatspin
artistcap
balloonspin
bassspin
scythespin
controller
cowbell
cuckatoohat
hologram hat
hoodie
hoodnohat
kittywitchspin
longboardshowcase
neckpotionspin
nekoskirtlol
paperhat
pasta
pirdescarf
polaroids
rabbitringer
spikeyhairpsin
spray
waistjack
whiskers
winterget

559 Likes

Great update, and I only have a few questions.

Will the new UGC appear in the creations tab of the profile, as clothing is now?

Since there has been an owners tab for all the Roblox released items, will that be the case in the future with UGC?

The inventory does not seem to have a separate section for the new UGC created items, is that a feature we should be looking forward too?

Overall, this is a great update, and I can’t wait to see what is rolled out in the future.

100 Likes

Unlike shirts, will everything be forced on sale? Also, will UGC items be featured in the front of the catalog?

95 Likes

in the future non-developer players will be able to create items?

96 Likes

Will Users be able to upload retextured items (Within Reason). I ask because of my favorite hats Sinister M has been re textured over the years and I was wondering if it is possible to upload a custom made version as well. I know this could be a risky feature but I am just wondering.

Overall great update.

Example (Texture is on my PC):

148 Likes

Amazing, the dream is finally coming true!

I do have an inquiry about the approval process, though: does moderation also serve as quality control, and if not, is there some kind of quality control beyond just limiting who can upload UGC items? For example, what happens when someone inevitably attempts to upload a 50x50x50 cube as a hat?

81 Likes

In the future how will you choose who will be verified to create hats. Will there be a application?

72 Likes

In my opinion there should be an application instead of a “waves” there is lots of talented modelers out there but it seems you are only picking the people that are known in the roblox community, and that isn’t really fair for all the other people who are really talented at 3D modeling.

123 Likes

Great! I’m looking forward to this, hopefully even possibly contributing to the UGC in the future! It’s amazing to see ROBLOX becoming more user interactive, as well as granting developers greater freedom. Modelling and texturing will soon become of more importance in the ROBLOX development community!

Just a quick question, how will moderation work: will retextured hats be available? Can hats related to outside ideas be created without the risk of any copyright laws being violated? Will hats like presents still be incorporated?

Excited for this brand new update!

57 Likes

I think it’s safe to assume retextured hats will be allowed as long as you have permission from the creator of the original hat.

61 Likes

What about Roblox created ones?

58 Likes

Good feature. I have seen some good hats already made and even bought some. However, there are some obvious copied hats that have been uploaded, and this is only within hours of the UGC release. This completely devalues the items that they are copying, and that directly affects owners of the original copies of these items, especially if the hats are limited. I hope you guys address this, because this is being done by your ‘hand-picked’ creators. It’s concerning because if something like this slips by, then people would be encouraged to continue the behavior of copying hats. Before we know people will be recreating dominus hats. I know you guys are actively working on a system to prevent duplication of hats, but if hand selected creators are doing this, how much faith can we truly have in the system that is being created.

75 Likes

If you can’t get permission from the creator of the Roblox ones, then don’t do it.

51 Likes

Downtown Denizen is basically riding off the iconic look and reputation of The Classic ROBLOX Fedora. At the very least, it benefits from the fame of items such as Classic Fedora and Perfectly Illegitimate Business Hat. The latter two items are very widely-recognized and while it doesn’t have the exact same shape, functionally in size, position, and color it’s near indistinguishable from a reasonable observation distance.

62 Likes