Roblox hikes Creator Pay 8.5% as Platform Courts Premium Game Devs

Gaming platform Roblox Corp. announced an immediate 8.5% increase to creator payouts at its annual developers conference, part of a broader push to attract higher-quality content and compete for a larger share of the global gaming market.

The Burlingame, Calif.-based company said Thursday that it would boost the cash-out rate for its Developer Exchange program, which allows creators to convert virtual currency earned on the platform into real dollars. Under the new structure, 100,000 Robux—the platform's virtual currency—will convert to $380, up from $350 previously.

The move comes as Roblox seeks to capture 10% of all global gaming content revenue, according to company executives speaking at the Roblox Developers Conference in San Jose. The platform has grown to 111.8 million average daily active users, who logged over 390 billion visits to games in the past year.

Roblox paid out more than $1 billion to creators over the 12-month period leading up to the conference, the company said.

The payout increase reflects broader competition among gaming platforms to retain top creators. Roblox has built its business model around user-generated content, taking a percentage of revenue from virtual goods sold within games created by its community.

Beyond financial incentives, the company unveiled new artificial intelligence tools designed to streamline game development. The platform now allows developers to generate complex, interactive objects using simple text prompts such as "a futuristic red sports car" that are immediately functional within games.

Roblox also introduced language APIs for text-to-speech and real-time voice translation, initially supporting English, Spanish, French and German. The company integrated the Model Context Protocol into its development environment to accelerate workflows.

To address game discovery challenges, Roblox launched a beta version of "Roblox Moments," a TikTok-style vertical video feed where players can capture and share gameplay clips. The feature includes a "Join" button that allows viewers to instantly enter games directly from video content.

The company also announced engine upgrades aimed at attracting developers of more sophisticated games, including enhanced avatar animations and new tools for competitive gaming such as server authority and custom matchmaking systems. These features target developers creating battle royales, sports simulators and other skill-based games that require anti-cheat environments.

New intellectual property partnerships with Mattel Inc. will bring brands including Polly Pocket to the creator marketplace.

The company said it opened a new data center in São Paulo to improve performance for users in Brazil, one of its fastest-growing markets.

Shares of Roblox have gained approximately 12% this year, though they remain well below their pandemic-era highs when stay-at-home orders drove increased gaming activity.