Roblox is making changes to the program it uses to pay its creators. The game development platform has renamed its Game Fund as the Creator Fund and promised $500,000 grants for “approved participants.”
The Creator Fund shares a name with similar programs that have operated in the past on other platforms, but Roblox‘s version of creator monetization is unique. Rather than paying out awards based on the number of plays a game receives, Roblox is paying recipients upfront to fund their projects during the development phase. According to the Creator Fund landing page, Roblox will prioritize multiplayer projects while paying attention to factors like mobile optimization, social mechanics, and in-experience avatars.
“Our goal is to work closely with you to provide funding, support, and insights for the development of your content. Funding for approved participants starts at a minimum of $500,000 per project,” reads the Creator Fund homepage. “This program is designed to support developers who are eager to push the boundaries of what Roblox experiences can deliver.”
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Clip It is an example of the type of project Roblox‘s Fund is designed to support. That’s the name of a video editing tool developed by Neura Studios and backed by a Creator Fund grant. Clip It users can turn their Roblox content into short-form videos while adding in dynamic backgrounds and animations. The result will be an app-based feed full of vertically-oriented videos, which sounds (you guessed it) a lot like TikTok.
Roblox‘s Creator Fund investments will build on the explosive growth its community has experienced over the past year. The creation hub paid out $741 million to its community of creators in 2023, and some of its most-played titles (such as Rainbow Friends) have become international phenomena. Roblox doubled down on creator monetization at the start of 2024 when it pledged to give developers 100% of the revenue generated by certain assets.
Even as Roblox grows its audience and introduces new revenue streams, it still faces competition from titles like Fortnite, which have rolled out their own incentives to encourage the creation of in-game experiences. The reimagined Creator Fund makes Roblox an even sweeter deal for sandbox developers — if you think your project is deserving of a $500,000 investment, you can apply right here.
