In September, Roblox, the popular social gaming platform, introduced in-experience subscriptions for developers. The idea was for developers to get a new revenue stream through this, and for Roblox to earn a platform fee. Of course, the subscribers would also get freebies and special items in their favorite experiences. Now, to really lure in the developers, Roblox has deployed a new offer, where it will only charge half the platform fee from developers who integrate subscriptions before December 15, 2023.
Making the announcement in the Roblox Dev forum, the company stated, “Today, we have some exciting news for developers who integrate subscriptions within their Roblox experience before December 15, 2023…The platform fee will be reduced to 15% on subscriptions (usually 30%) for developers who create active subscriptions by December 15, 2023. This discounted fee will last through March 15, 2024”.
Roblox offers additional benefits to developers for adding subscriptions
There are some caveats to this offer, however. For one, the discount period is till March 15, and after that, the platform fee will go back to 30 percent. On top of that, the extra revenue generated through this discount will be paid out in a single lump sum in April 2024.
With caveats, come extra features too. So, while the reduced platform fee is the biggest draw, developers will see other benefits as well. Roblox says, “Your experience may be spotlighted on our Discover page in a dedicated subscription section for a limited time, potentially increasing awareness and driving users to your experience”. Further, developers may also have the opportunity to be reposted on Roblox’s marketing channels if they post images or videos of their subscriptions and tag @Roblox on X (formerly Twitter).
It should be noted that even if developers add subscriptions to the experiences this month, they will become active only in November after Roblox officially starts it. Right now, Passes are still in effect, and the company plans to convert existing passes to subscriptions once the feature is launched.
Developers should also note that while subscribers will be paying in real, local currency, developers will be paid in Robux, the in-game currency. Roblox has explained this decision on its support page and said, “Paying creators in Robux also allows creators to understand overall experience monetization across different products (dev products, Passes, subs, ads rev share) more seamlessly without having to do currency conversions”.
