The popular children's gaming platform Roblox announced Friday (September 8) that subscribers of the Roblox app's upper-tier premium plans, which give users a monthly amount of its Robux currency, would be able to sell their three-dimensional (3D) goods to other users in its bid to increase its revenue.
According to the company's announcement, which was made in line with its annual developer conference in San Francisco Friday, Roblox gamers could only create and sell 2D goods like virtual clothing, and they were required to apply and win approval to become part of Roblox's user-generated content (UGC) program in order to do the same with 3D assets.
Roblox has since announced, as of press time, that the platform would expand into PlayStation 4 and 5 next month.
With the announcement, Roblox chief product officer Manuel Bronstein told CNBC, that the platform's marketplace has been opened to all users, creating more items that could be potentially sold.
"We know that with increased creation comes more engagement and more users," he added.
Read Also: Roblox Adds Content for More Adult Players
Roblox's Slowing Expansion
While Roblox generated investor excitement when it went public in 2021 for the opportunity of having fun while discreetly contributing to the economy, revenue growth has slowed down dramatically, falling by up to 15% year over year (YoY) in the company's latest quarterly report.
Its stock also plummeted by 72% last year, shrinking the company's market cap to $18 billion.
The company primarily generates its revenue from the sales of Robux. When customers use the currency to buy virtual items within games, Roblox shares 30% of the revenue with the game developer.
Aside from allowing users to sell 3D goods on the platform, the company also started offering online ads earlier this year as a way to expand its business.
It is projected that by allowing users to create and sell 3D goods, Roblox could gain more paid subscribers who were willing to spend money for such a feature.
Although users, who must provide photo identification, would have to pay a fee of 750 Robux to upload 3D accessories and clothing to the marketplace, they would be able to submit their custom 3D bodies and heads for digital avatars for free.
In addition, developers building custom video games on the platform would be able to use new coding tools from the company's Roblox Connect service that could help them create interactive experiences intended to strengthen communication between users, such as digital phone booths that people could use to call their Roblox contacts.
Bronstein further explained that Roblox would introduce its digital assistant which was intended to help Roblox users to easily create content in the online universe by using a more conversational approach, similar to artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
