Roblox launches subscriptions for developers

Metaverse world-builders are getting another revenue source, as Roblox has said developers will eventually be able to sell subscriptions to players within their worlds.

Roblox announced the upcoming feature in a Tuesday blog post outlining its roadmap for the game’s economy.

“As we look ahead, we’re building the tools for developers to create subscriptions within their experience,” the statement reads. “This will help them to establish a recurring economic relationship with their users and potentially increase the predictability of their earnings. It will also help ensure our users have a steady flow of content that’s relevant to them.”

It didn’t specify when subscriptions would become available.

At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Roblox launched a partner program that educates brands on its ad offering. It created the program to address growing interest in the game following more than 100 brand activations in 2022.

On June 15, Roblox banned advertising aimed at children under 13. In May, watchdog the Children’s Advertising Review Unit found the game was in violation of ad disclosure guidelines.

Roblox has 66 million daily active users that played for 14.5 billion hours in Q1 2023, according to the blog post. Developers earned $624 million through 3.2 billion microtransactions, which are sales of virtual items in-game or on the Roblox marketplace, last year. They made another $182 million through 900 million sales in Q1.

The game posted $655 million in revenue in its Q1 earnings.