2023 Year in Review — A Letter From Our CEO

This was an enormous yr for Roblox. We made nice progress towards our imaginative and prescient of reimagining the best way folks come collectively by constructing revolutionary applied sciences that allow richer types of communication, creation, and immersion. During Q3* of this yr, we noticed 70.2 million day by day lively customers on Roblox, which was up 20 % from the identical interval final yr, and customers spent 16 billion hours coming collectively to attach, discover, study, play, and create on our platform. As Roblox has grown, our accountability to our neighborhood is as robust as ever, and I’m proud that we’re retaining security on the forefront of the whole lot we do.

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

• Enabling 3D immersive communication.
• Making Roblox welcoming for everybody, all over the place.
• Growing our vibrant financial system so creators of all sizes can launch and scale a enterprise.
• Empowering folks to attach, create, and thrive in secure and civil experiences. 

Take a take a look at some key highlights above, and skim on for extra element on the nice work we did collectively:

The Growth of Our Platform

Immersive Communication

Over the final yr, 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 convey their family and friends onto Roblox by importing their contact record from their telephone or sharing a QR code with a pal. 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 specific themselves similar to they might in the true world. This yr, we additionally started permitting folks to customise associates’ 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 know-how 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 know-how 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 know-how, known as Roblox Connect, and I’ve been utilizing it to speak with my household on Roblox, which has simply been wonderful.

Roblox Connect

For this know-how, 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 all the time astonished by their creativity as an increasing number of turns into doable on the platform.  

Expressing Yourself With Avatars You Love

We consider that when somebody can categorical their genuine self with their avatar, they’ll have a greater time on Roblox. So this yr, we gave our neighborhood new methods to try 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. 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 increase entry to avatar creation and monetization and supply extra and higher methods for folks to speak and categorical themselves on Roblox. This is only the start of those efforts. 
• We additionally need to present everybody on Roblox with the absolute best know-how for creating avatars, and our new Avatar Setup software makes that simpler than ever. And we’re taking avatar personalization to the following degree with the Studio beta of our mesh and picture APIs that may finally permit anybody to create a unique avatar in Roblox experiences. 

Next yr, we’ll double down on growing generative AI instruments that permit folks create avatars primarily based on pictures 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 performed with security and civility in thoughts.

At the identical time, we all the time need Roblox to be easy to make use of, so we’re making it simpler than ever for creators to make sure their experiences work for everybody. 

• We’re growing know-how that permits folks to create distinctive and customized avatars and equipment (in addition to our basic avatars). But we would like all fashionable 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 need all of Roblox to imitate real-world physics, which suggests objects reply to issues like gravity and aerodynamics. Our researchers are growing know-how to guarantee that even hair and material on avatar outfits reacts to motion, collisions, and wind. They’re additionally engaged on methods for avatars to finally mimic the various advanced methods people transfer their our bodies.

The Future of Creation

Everything you see on Roblox was imagined and constructed by our neighborhood, and we’re persevering with to evolve our platform to empower an increasing number of of that creativity: 

• In Q1* of this yr we started utilizing generative AI as a solution to allow extra folks to create on our platform. We’re already seeing creators being extra productive and needing much less technical ability 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 might kind “I want to create a game set in ancient ruins where the player spawns by a campfire,” and the system will mechanically construct it. This will let creators spend extra time on high-value actions like narrative, recreation play, and expertise design.
• While these instruments will make it simpler than ever for present creators to specific their creativity and earn, we need to make it doable for anybody to create on Roblox. In the following yr, we plan to convey a number of the options of Roblox Studio (our 3D content material creation software program) to everybody on our platform. That means anybody might begin to create issues like homes, vehicles, and even avatars inside present experiences. 

The Growth of Our Community 

Creator Connections

Roblox wouldn’t be the place it’s with out our gifted, various, and international creator neighborhood. This yr, 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 offer our creators an early take a look at the issues we’re engaged on, collaborate, and get their suggestions. 

In 2023, we related with growth studios from around the globe each in individual and just about. And at Roblox Developers Conference (RDC) in September, 1000’s of individuals got here collectively for informative and inspirational periods, sales space demos, and networking occasions. RDC continues to be an incredible place for builders, manufacturers, and influencers to study from one another and for us to attach with our gifted and rising neighborhood.

Roblox Developers Conference 2023

At Connect 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 Events, we noticed creators from everywhere in the world come collectively to share information and study from each other by internet hosting dozens of on-line workshops.

Community Creations

This was a yr of breakout hits on Roblox. In truth, 38 % of the highest 1,000 experiences on the platform have been created inside the final 12 months.*** A sampling of a number of the thrilling new experiences on Roblox consists of: 

• Social vogue expertise Dress to Impress, which surpassed 40 million visits in simply two months.
• Obby But You’re On A Bike, a brand new (wheelie) spin on the well-loved obby (or impediment course) formulation.
• Drinks On Tap, an expertise with extra mature content material for ID-verified customers 17 years and older, was visited almost 5 million instances since 17+ experiences launched****, and customers in the expertise have been in a position to make use of robust language, the most recent in our communication applied sciences.

At the identical time, our Game Fund debuted ten experiences that leverage our newest improvements and push the boundaries of what’s doable on Roblox. Those releases included Skullbeat by Chop Chop Games & Kong Orange, Primal Hunt by Phaser Lock Interactive, and—from the Hello Neighbor universe—Secret Neighbor by Tinybuild.

I’m joyful to say that this progress extends past simply expertise creation. During the primary three quarters of 2023, neighborhood creators bought almost 1.6 billion digital vogue objects and equipment. As a consequence, customers have been always altering their look, with 165 billion avatar updates over that very same timeframe.

Honoring the Community

In November of this yr, we awarded 16 winners on the Roblox Innovation Awards. Great creators at LSPLASH received each the Builderman Award of Excellence and Best New Experience for Doors, and Gamer Robot Inc. received the People’s Choice award for Blox Fruits. 

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

I’m so proud that Roblox is residence to one of many world’s most passionate and revolutionary creator communities, and so impressed by their monumental yr of creativity and innovation.

The Growth of Our Business

We’ve lengthy talked in regards to the a number of components driving the expansion of Roblox—being a platform for everybody, being out there all over the place, rising internationally, and constructing a vibrant financial system that serves our complete neighborhood. By combining all of these components, the expansion of our platform will get very attention-grabbing in a short time. 

Roblox for Everyone

In Q3 2023, greater than 57 % of our customers have been 13 or older and the quickest rising age group on Roblox was 17-24 yr olds. And we consider there may be far more progress to come back with this viewers. 

This yr, 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. This is thrilling as a result of manufacturers on Roblox now have entry to a helpful, 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 categorical themselves extra freely.

Roblox Everywhere

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

Making Roblox out there all over the place and on each platform is an enormous focus for us so we will be the place our customers need to be a part of us. This yr, we expanded that vary by bringing Roblox to Meta Quest (totally out there in Q3 23) and PlayStation (This autumn 23). Millions extra folks can now entry our platform, which opens up much more alternatives for builders to create and immediately share their experiences. They can now simply publish and distribute present experiences to those well-liked international platforms or create distinctive, new experiences for VR or console.

Roblox Around the World

Our customers come from all corners of the globe, and this yr, we launched 4 new languages to raised help folks on Roblox in 180 nations. We additionally made vital progress in markets like Japan, the place we grew DAUs 66 % year-over-year** in Q3 2023. And we’re studying from these efforts. When we develop Roblox in a brand new market, we’re systematic about ensuring the customers there’ll instantly have an incredible 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 deal with:

• Automatic AI-powered language translation.
• Ensuring efficiency and stability on lower-end units.
• Content and our developer neighborhood in the brand new market.
• Global fee optimizations.
• Platform security and civility.

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

A Vibrant Economy

The Roblox financial 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 via the tip of September 2023, creators earned $701 million in developer trade charges on Roblox. Some methods we enhanced our financial system this yr embody:

• Limiteds (Q2 23): We started letting creators in our UGC Program determine how scarce they need their objects to be by selecting what number of to supply. We’re additionally making it doable for them to revenue from each resale of their objects. In truth, a number one digital music model, Monstercat, lately teamed up with neighborhood creator @WhoseTrade on six single-edition necklaces. Each bought inside minutes, together with the Ruby Pendant, which bought for roughly $10,000. And Lamborghini teamed up with @Yourius to create a Golden Bullhead Limited, which bought its three copies instantly for 1.5 million Robux every. And I’m proud to say that almost all resold objects are promoting for greater than what they value initially.
• Avatar 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 Marketplace or inside experiences. We are excited to supply this extra approach 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): Developers 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 be capable of depend on a gentle circulation of contemporary content material that’s related to them.

Avatar Bodies and Heads

Monetization and Advertising

For years, Roblox has been a robust monetization engine, however with promoting and, in the longer term, real-world commerce, we’re unlocking substantial potential monetary progress. Today, solely about 20 % of engagement hours on Roblox are generated by month-to-month distinctive payers. But the potential for promoting, as a consequence of our massive and rising Gen Z viewers, and finally, real-world commerce, highlights new alternatives for creators, together with manufacturers, to increase 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 advertisements in them. And we’re decreasing the barrier to entry for people who need to show advertisements with instruments like:

• Immersive Ads (Q1 23): Eligible builders can earn Robux by having advertisements positioned in their experiences. Advertisers should buy these native advertisements and attain their audiences at scale in an revolutionary and fascinating approach. 
• Ads Manager (Q2 23): Helps advertisers create and handle their advertisements with a self-serve software.
• Testing new formats like video advertisements (This autumn 23), which we consider will enhance developer payouts and advertiser worth.

More Brands and Industries

We have all the time aimed to make Roblox extra helpful to extra folks and in 2023, we noticed high manufacturers and expertise partaking and creating deep connections with our neighborhood. Brands 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 procuring experiences, and Karlie Kloss (Q1 23) and Paris Hilton (Q3 2024) launched their fashion-forward experiences with new avatars. Each 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, international promoting ecosystem on the platform, so we launched the Roblox Partner Program (Q2 23). The Program is targeted on partaking a broad community of platform advocates—from Roblox developer studios to early adopters amongst businesses and third-party sellers—in international schooling and greatest follow 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 yr, we’ve additionally seen expanded and fascinating experiences in industries like vogue, music, auto, and journey, work/recruiting, and schooling.

• Fashion was enormous on Roblox in 2023, with the traces persevering with to blur between model in the bodily world and on our platform. For instance, college students on the Parsons School 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 vogue and artwork.
• Music fandom, together with Okay-Pop, is shortly rising, particularly with the arrival of iconic teams like Twice (Q1 23) and BlackPink (Q3 23) to the platform.
• And schooling continues to be a magnet for us. We took some large steps ahead this yr with the Roblox Community Fund, together with launching this system’s first set of academic experiences (Q3 23). Among them is Robot Champions (This autumn 23) from FIRST Robotics and Filament Games, which provides 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 yr is the infrastructure that permits 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 take a position in the technical prowess that may underpin our ongoing progress and success. In explicit, we’ll proceed to take a position in AI. We have entry to distinctive information and insights that may permit us to leverage AI to learn our neighborhood and platform, together with: 

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

This is each our short- and long-term future. Looking again at 2023, I’m so pleased with all of the work our complete workforce did to make Roblox such a robust platform, and I couldn’t be extra optimistic about what’s coming subsequent.