2023 Yr in Assessment — A Letter From Our CEO

This was a giant 12 months for Roblox. We made nice progress towards our imaginative and prescient of reimagining the way in which folks come collectively by constructing modern applied sciences that allow richer types of communication, creation, and immersion. Throughout Q3* of this 12 months, we noticed 70.2 million each day energetic customers on Roblox, which was up 20 p.c from the identical interval final 12 months, and customers spent 16 billion hours coming collectively to attach, discover, be taught, play, and create on our platform. As Roblox has grown, our duty to our neighborhood is as robust as ever, and I’m proud that we’re protecting security on the forefront of every thing we do.

All through 2023, we shipped a broad vary of improvements that helped us make vital progress in direction of our core targets:

• Enabling 3D immersive communication.
• Making Roblox welcoming for everybody, in all places.
• Rising our vibrant economic system so creators of all sizes can launch and scale a enterprise.
• Empowering folks to attach, create, and thrive in protected and civil experiences. 

Check out some key highlights above, and skim on for extra element on the nice work we did collectively:

The Progress of Our Platform

Immersive Communication

During the last 12 months, we’ve added a spread of latest instruments that make connection and communication on Roblox much more like actual life. We’ve made it easy for folks to deliver their family and friends onto Roblox by importing their contact record from their telephone or sharing a QR code with a good friend. We additionally launched Chat with Voice, and we’ve been working to make sure that all avatar heads can make the most of facial animation. These advances allow new, richer methods for folks to precise themselves identical to they’d in the true world. This 12 months, we additionally started permitting folks to customise mates’ names, together with utilizing their actual names (This autumn 23) in the event that they’re over 17.

In 2023, enhancements we made to our superior real-time communication instruments created new alternatives for our builders. For instance, we launched a expertise that builders can incorporate into their experiences to permit folks to name each other as their avatars for impromptu conversations and gatherings (This autumn 23). This expertise makes use of face monitoring, so folks can really see one another’s facial expressions and physique language whereas they’re speaking, which actually helps them really feel nearer. In truth, we launched our personal expertise primarily based on this expertise, referred to as Roblox Join, and I’ve been utilizing it to speak with my household on Roblox, which has simply been superb.

Roblox Join

For this expertise, it’s nonetheless early. Our job is to supply infrastructure and instruments for the neighborhood and to see what our builders construct. And I’m at all times astonished by their creativity as increasingly turns into doable on the platform.  

Expressing Your self With Avatars You Love

We consider that when somebody can specific their genuine self with their avatar, they’ll have a greater time on Roblox. So this 12 months, we gave our neighborhood new methods to do this. This might imply constructing an avatar that appears just like the individual does in actual life, or one which resembles a jetpack-wearing ninja, an emo princess, or nearly the rest they will dream up. Right here’s how:

• We made it doable for creators to make and promote full avatar our bodies and standalone heads (Q3 23). We plan to broaden entry to avatar creation and monetization and supply extra and higher methods for folks to speak and specific themselves on Roblox. That is only the start of those efforts. 
• We additionally need to present everybody on Roblox with the very best expertise for creating avatars, and our new Avatar Setup device makes that simpler than ever. And we’re taking avatar personalization to the subsequent stage with the Studio beta of our mesh and picture APIs that can ultimately permit anybody to create a unique avatar in Roblox experiences. 

Subsequent 12 months, we’ll double down on creating generative AI instruments that permit folks create avatars primarily based on photographs and textual content prompts. We’re being considerate about moderating the avatars created with AI and the interactions folks have with them, and making certain it’s carried out with security and civility in thoughts.

On the similar time, we at all times need Roblox to be easy to make use of, so we’re making it simpler than ever for creators to make certain their experiences work for everybody. 

• We’re creating expertise that enables folks to create distinctive and personalised avatars and equipment (along with our traditional avatars). However we wish all trendy avatars to have the ability to entry experiences constructed for traditional avatars with out sacrificing options like layered clothes or facial expressions, so we constructed an adapter to make sure simply that.
• We would like all of Roblox to imitate real-world physics, which suggests objects reply to issues like gravity and aerodynamics. Our researchers are creating expertise to ensure that even hair and material on avatar outfits reacts to motion, collisions, and wind. They’re additionally engaged on methods for avatars to ultimately mimic the various complicated methods people transfer their our bodies.

The Way forward for Creation

Every part you see on Roblox was imagined and constructed by our neighborhood, and we’re persevering with to evolve our platform to empower increasingly of that creativity: 

• In Q1* of this 12 months we started utilizing generative AI as a strategy to allow extra folks to create on our platform. We’re already seeing creators being extra productive and needing much less technical talent to get their concepts off the bottom. 
• With Roblox Assistant, our new conversational AI (This autumn 23), creators can use pure language textual content prompts to shortly prototype concepts. For instance, somebody may kind “I need to create a sport set in historical ruins the place the participant spawns by a campfire,” and the system will mechanically construct it. It will let creators spend extra time on high-value actions like narrative, sport play, and expertise design.
• Whereas these instruments will make it simpler than ever for present creators to precise their creativity and earn, we need to make it doable for anybody to create on Roblox. Within the subsequent 12 months, we plan to deliver a few of the options of Roblox Studio (our 3D content material creation software program) to everybody on our platform. Which means anybody may begin to create issues like homes, vehicles, and even avatars inside present experiences. 

The Progress of Our Group 

Creator Connections

Roblox wouldn’t be the place it’s with out our gifted, various, and world creator neighborhood. This 12 months, we rolled out our new Creator Roadmap to mirror how we’re constructing our platform hand-in-hand with creators. The Roadmap is a spot for us to provide our creators an early have a look at the issues we’re engaged on, collaborate, and get their suggestions. 

In 2023, we linked with improvement studios from all over the world each in individual and just about. And at Roblox Builders Convention (RDC) in September, hundreds of individuals got here collectively for informative and inspirational classes, sales space demos, and networking occasions. RDC continues to be a terrific place for builders, manufacturers, and influencers to be taught from one another and for us to attach with our gifted and rising neighborhood.

Roblox Builders Convention 2023

At Join 2023, our convention by creators for creators, greater than 12,000 creators gathered for a collection of networking alternatives and competitions. And with the launch of Creator Occasions, we noticed creators from all around the world come collectively to share information and be taught from each other by internet hosting dozens of on-line workshops.

Group Creations

This was a 12 months of breakout hits on Roblox. In truth, 38 p.c of the highest 1,000 experiences on the platform had been created throughout the final 12 months.*** A sampling of a few of the thrilling new experiences on Roblox consists of: 

• Social style expertise Gown to Impress, which surpassed 40 million visits in simply two months.
• Obby However You’re On A Bike, a brand new (wheelie) spin on the well-loved obby (or impediment course) components.
• Drinks On Faucet, an expertise with extra mature content material for ID-verified customers 17 years and older, was visited almost 5 million occasions since 17+ experiences launched****, and customers within the expertise had been ready to make use of robust language, the newest in our communication applied sciences.

On the similar time, our Sport Fund debuted ten experiences that leverage our newest improvements and push the boundaries of what’s doable on Roblox. These releases included Skullbeat by Chop Chop Video games & Kong Orange, Primal Hunt by Phaser Lock Interactive, and—from the Hiya Neighbor universe—Secret Neighbor by Tinybuild.

I’m pleased to say that this development extends past simply expertise creation. Through the first three quarters of 2023, neighborhood creators bought almost 1.6 billion digital style gadgets and equipment. Consequently, customers had been consistently altering their look, with 165 billion avatar updates over that very same timeframe.

Honoring the Group

In November of this 12 months, we awarded 16 winners on the Roblox Innovation Awards. Nice creators at LSPLASH gained each the Builderman Award of Excellence and Finest New Expertise for Doorways, and Gamer Robotic Inc. gained the Individuals’s Alternative award for Blox Fruits. 

We additionally noticed unimaginable work from influencers in our Video Stars program like Tanqr who gained Finest Video Star, Temprist for creating the Finest Video, and TeraBrite and RussoPlays for delivering one more neighborhood smash hit season of RB Battles. This 12 months we welcomed a various solid of greater than 50 new video creators into this system, and we will’t wait to see what they proceed to create.

I’m so proud that Roblox is house to one of many world’s most passionate and modern creator communities, and so impressed by their monumental 12 months of creativity and innovation.

The Progress of Our Enterprise

We’ve lengthy talked concerning the a number of parts driving the expansion of Roblox—being a platform for everybody, being obtainable in all places, rising internationally, and constructing a vibrant economic system that serves our total neighborhood. By combining all of these parts, the expansion of our platform will get very fascinating in a short time. 

Roblox for Everybody

In Q3 2023, greater than 57 p.c of our customers had been 13 or older and the quickest rising age group on Roblox was 17-24 12 months olds. And we consider there’s way more development to return with this viewers. 

This 12 months, we launched experiences for 17+ customers (Q2 23), which suggests creators can incorporate the sorts of mature themes and storylines discovered on TV exhibits or stand-up comedy into what they construct. That is thrilling as a result of manufacturers on Roblox now have entry to a beneficial, usually hard-to-reach demographic, and since many builders over 17, the group that creates the vast majority of our high 1,000 experiences, need to construct for older customers to allow them to specific themselves extra freely.

Roblox In all places

For years, folks joined Roblox from a variety of units together with cell (iOS and Android), desktop, and gaming consoles. 

Making Roblox obtainable in all places and on each platform is a giant focus for us so we may be the place our customers need to be part of us. This 12 months, we expanded that vary by bringing Roblox to Meta Quest (absolutely obtainable in Q3 23) and PlayStation (This autumn 23). Thousands and thousands extra folks can now entry our platform, which opens up much more alternatives for builders to create and immediately share their experiences. They will now simply publish and distribute present experiences to those fashionable world platforms or create distinctive, new experiences for VR or console.

Roblox Across the World

Our customers come from all corners of the globe, and this 12 months, we launched 4 new languages to higher assist folks on Roblox in 180 international locations. We additionally made vital progress in markets like Japan, the place we grew DAUs 66 p.c year-over-year** in Q3 2023. And we’re studying from these efforts. Once we develop Roblox in a brand new market, we’re systematic about ensuring the customers there’ll instantly have a terrific expertise, so we zero in on search and discovery, pure language translation high quality, and the efficiency of our infrastructure. As we take into consideration becoming a member of new markets, we concentrate on:

• Computerized AI-powered language translation.
• Making certain efficiency and stability on lower-end units.
• Content material and our developer neighborhood within the new market.
• World fee optimizations.
• Platform security and civility.

This playbook has been profitable in Japan and India, and it’s guiding our work in different international locations. For instance, Bookings in Germany grew 75 p.c year-over-year** in Q3 2023. We’re additionally excited concerning the large alternatives we’re seeing in main markets like Brazil and India.

A Vibrant Economic system

The Roblox economic system is designed to mannequin and mirror real-world dynamics. We constructed it to supply seamless participation for anybody, serve our neighborhood, and make it doable for any creator to start out and develop a enterprise. From the start of October 2022 by means of the tip of September 2023, creators earned $701 million in developer trade charges on Roblox. Some methods we enhanced our economic system this 12 months embody:

• Limiteds (Q2 23): We started letting creators in our UGC Program determine how scarce they need their gadgets to be by selecting what number of to provide. We’re additionally making it doable for them to revenue from each resale of their gadgets. In truth, a number one digital music model, Monstercat, not too long ago teamed up with neighborhood creator @WhoseTrade on six single-edition necklaces. Every bought inside minutes, together with the Ruby Pendant, which bought for about $10,000. And Lamborghini teamed up with @Yourius to create a Golden Bullhead Restricted, which bought its three copies instantly for 1.5 million Robux every. And I’m proud to say that the majority resold gadgets are promoting for greater than what they value initially.
• Avatar Our bodies and Heads (Q3 23): As talked about above, UGC Program members can now create and promote full avatar our bodies and standalone heads in Market or inside experiences. We’re excited to supply this extra manner for builders to create and earn, particularly as a result of we consider it’s going to drive extra self-expression throughout Roblox.
• Subscriptions (This autumn 23): Builders can now create subscriptions inside their experiences and set up ongoing relationships with their customers, whereas doubtlessly making their earnings extra predictable. This additionally means folks will have the ability to depend on a gentle circulate of recent content material that’s related to them.

Avatar Our bodies and Heads

Monetization and Promoting

For years, Roblox has been a strong monetization engine, however with promoting and, sooner or later, real-world commerce, we’re unlocking substantial potential monetary development. Right now, solely about 20 p.c of engagement hours on Roblox are generated by month-to-month distinctive payers. However the potential for promoting, as a consequence of our giant and rising Gen Z viewers, and ultimately, real-world commerce, highlights new alternatives for creators, together with manufacturers, to broaden the methods they will earn.

This comes as we’ve made it simpler for manufacturers and builders alike to earn from their experiences by displaying adverts in them. And we’re lowering the barrier to entry for those who need to show adverts with instruments like:

• Immersive Adverts (Q1 23): Eligible builders can earn Robux by having adverts positioned of their experiences. Advertisers should buy these native adverts and attain their audiences at scale in an modern and interesting manner. 
• Adverts Supervisor (Q2 23): Helps advertisers create and handle their adverts with a self-serve device.
• Testing new formats like video adverts (This autumn 23), which we consider will improve developer payouts and advertiser worth.

Extra Manufacturers and Industries

Now we have at all times aimed to make Roblox extra beneficial to extra folks and in 2023, we noticed high manufacturers and expertise participating and creating deep connections with our neighborhood. Manufacturers like Adidas, NBA, and e.l.f. Cosmetics all created unimaginable experiences on the platform, artists like Nicki Minaj and Olivia Rodrigo (This autumn 23) launched immersive buying experiences, and Karlie Kloss (Q1 23) and Paris Hilton (Q3 2024) launched their fashion-forward experiences with new avatars. Every of those used our highly effective creation instruments to construct neighborhood areas for connection and self-expression.

We additionally need to scale model innovation and allow a self-serve, world promoting ecosystem on the platform, so we launched the Roblox Accomplice Program (Q2 23). The Program is concentrated on participating a broad community of platform advocates—from Roblox developer studios to early adopters amongst companies and third-party sellers—in world training and greatest apply sharing for manufacturers. 

Experiences and types featured (from left to proper): e.l.f. UP!, Lamborghini Lanzador Lab, PARTY!!! at Olivia’s Place, BLACKPINK THE PALACE, Adidas, Elf [North Pole Workshop], NBA Playgrounds: Basketball Hoops Arcade

This 12 months, we’ve additionally seen expanded and interesting experiences in industries like style, music, auto, and journey, work/recruiting, and training.

• Style was large on Roblox in 2023, with the strains persevering with to blur between model within the bodily world and on our platform. For instance, college students on the Parsons College of Design created and bought couture items on Roblox (Q2 23) with bodily variations of them later displayed at RDC (Q3 23). Gucci additionally launched their fourth expertise on the platform, Gucci Ancora (Q3 23) which transported customers just about to Milan to discover and work together on the intersection of style and artwork.
• Music fandom, together with Ok-Pop, is shortly rising, particularly with the arrival of iconic teams like Twice (Q1 23) and BlackPink (Q3 23) to the platform.
• And training continues to catch the attention of us. We took some large steps ahead this 12 months with the Roblox Group Fund, together with launching this system’s first set of instructional experiences (Q3 23). Amongst them is Robotic Champions (This autumn 23) from FIRST Robotics and Filament Video games, which gives college students an open-ended house to design, construct, and management robots. 

In Closing

Behind all of the work everybody at Roblox and in our neighborhood did this 12 months is the infrastructure that enables us to scale quickly and effectively, empowering our builders to create with ease and our customers to have essentially the most dependable expertise doable. 

We’re additionally persevering with to put money into the technical prowess that can underpin our ongoing development and success. Particularly, we are going to proceed to put money into AI. Now we have entry to distinctive knowledge and insights that can permit us to leverage AI to learn our neighborhood and platform, together with: 

• To speed up creation by anybody.
• To make our moderation methods quicker, extra correct, and extra environment friendly.
• And to analysis new ways in which AI may make our lives simpler and higher.

That is each our short- and long-term future. Wanting again at 2023, I’m so happy with all of the work our total crew did to make Roblox such a strong platform, and I couldn’t be extra optimistic about what’s coming subsequent.