Roblox Corporation just announced several updates to its gaming platform.
The biggest change probably is allowing developers to sell paid games in fiat money, breaking away from the company’s previous policy of only accepting its virtual currency, Robux.
More developers, bigger Roblox community, revenue sharing
The CEO and founder of Roblox, David Baszucki describe these changes as planned steps to expand the Roblox community and attract more developers to the platform.
The announcements were made during the company’s annual developer’s conference in San Jose, California.
Roblox’s website states that developers will be able to price paid experiences in fiat currency on desktop this year, with plans to extend the program to other platforms at a later stage.
Also, they revealed that the new payment system will offer developers a higher revenue share, which will depend on a tiered scheme based on pricing.
For example, experiences priced at $9.99, $29.99, and $49.99 will receive 50%, 60%, and 70% revenue share.
Shopify integration for merchs and other goods
They announced Shopify integration too, which is expected to launch early next year, with plans for further expansion.
This partnership will allow creators who sell physical goods with Shopify to offer the same products within a Roblox experience.
Roblox plans to pilot this solution later this year with a handful of selected creators, brands, and e-commerce partners.
Roblox’s stocks experienced a boom during the COVID era as children, the platform’s primary demographic, increasingly used it for social gaming. But as the hysteria faded, the stock since dipped by approximately 40%.
Fiat currency is more convenient in many cases
The move to diversify the platform’s economy towards fiat currency could serve as a quiet big shift in the gaming industry.
Traditionally, gaming giants like 2K and Electronic Arts have largely utilized virtual currencies to maintain their centralized transactional ecosystems.
Roblox’s move towards a more traditional marketplace may cause consumer fatigue with unnecessary currency conversions for the purpose of transacting in a closed ecosystem.
So niw many speculating this change could incentivize developers to create more paid experiences on the platform.
In the Web3 gaming industry, blockchain integration has largely addressed this issue by providing consumers with platform-agnostic access to most experiences.
But now Roblox’s move could push other gaming platforms to follow suit, leading to a more diverse and accessible gaming sector for both developers and players.
