Roblox announced several new features at its annual Roblox Developer Conference. The updates include new game creation tools, expanded non player character capabilities, and the ability to make games available across the web and other platforms. The company is also launching a dedicated Roblox Card and Roblox Wallet for creators.
Roblox is rolling out its generative AI game creation more broadly. First announced in July, the feature called Build lets users create games using natural language prompts. Initially available only in New Zealand, the company is expanding it to Serbia and Singapore. Build is also gaining desktop access for big screen creation, a new asset library, and iterative control. Later this year, it will receive a new prompt based scene generation feature that will extend to Roblox Studio.
The platform ensures that newly created games are available to play in more locations. Creators will soon be able to make their games available as separate apps on mobile, PC, and consoles, with Roblox acting as the game engine. By the end of the year, players will be able to join a game in a browser through a link.
These announcements indicate that Roblox focuses not only on bringing people to its platform, but also on expanding the reach of developer projects while making building easier and more accessible. Founder and CEO David Baszucki stated that in the last quarter, players spent over 29 billion hours cumulatively across 180 countries.
Roblox is adding new capabilities to non player characters, including characters that can playtest a game later this year. Creators will also be able to add an offline mode in their games, allowing continued play during weak network connections. Players will get a new Friends chat tab that moves across the game with them, featuring voice typing support.
An improved discovery algorithm will suggest shorter format games to younger users and games with a longer playtime to older users. Through its game engine, Roblox is debuting the ability to create 2D games with an orthographic camera, animated image containers, and direct sprite sheet import for animation. Within the Moments vertical feed, players will soon be able to tap on any avatar in a clip and purchase items.
Roblox reported that since 2013, game makers have earned more than $5 billion on the platform, with earnings for the last 12 months reaching $1.7 billion. The company is launching financial products to give creators different tools to use their earnings.
The first financial product is a Roblox Wallet where creators can receive real money payments by the end of each business day. Users can transfer funds to other bank accounts. Roblox is partnering with Airwallex to provide wallet services to United States users aged 18 and older, with plans for future global expansion.
The service also teased a Roblox Card, launching next year, that will let users spend their earnings at places that accept the card.
