Roblox announces short-form video feed for gameplay clips, new AI tools for creators, and more

Online gaming platform Roblox is launching a TikTok-like short-form video feed for sharing gameplay moments, the company unveiled on Friday at the Roblox Developers Conference. The company also announced increased earnings for creators, new AI tools to boost creation, and other advancements in performance.

The new short-form video experience, called “Roblox Moments,” is launching in beta for users 13 and older. It allows users to capture clips of their gameplay, then edit and share those clips in a scrollable feed. Users can trim their clip to up to 30 seconds, add music, and write a description before sharing it.

Plus, users can scroll through a feed of gameplay moments shared by the Roblox community, react to the clips using emojis, and jump into an experience right from a video.

Later this year, Roblox plans to open up API-based capabilities for creators to allow them to build their own in-game creation and discovery systems. For example, creators will be able to showcase trending clips and highlights from their own gameplay and create leaderboards for things like the coolest overtakes in a racing game.

Roblox says a gradual rollout of the feature will allow it to test and refine moderation to ensure all content is age-appropriate. All content is subject to moderation before posting, and users can report inappropriate videos.

As for the increased earnings for creators, Roblox is increasing the DevEx (Developer Exchange) rate, allowing creators to earn 8.5% more when they convert their earned Robux into cash. Now, 100,000 earned Robux will equal $380, rather than $350 when converted to cash.

“This is a significant step that reinforces the company’s dedication to fostering an economy where more creators can thrive and succeed,” the company shared with TechCrunch. “For example, the average revenue for a Top 1000 developer was almost $1 million, up 2.9x since 2020.”

In terms of the new AI tools for creators, Roblox is launching a series of new updates that are designed to offer artistic freedom, enhanced functionality, and smarter development assistance, it says.

Creators will be able to move beyond generating static 3D objects thanks to a new way of generating fully functional objects, starting with select vehicles and weapons categories. For example, a creator could provide the prompt “a sleek, futuristic red sports car,” and Roblox will generate an interactive car that can be driven. From there, creators can alter the car to their liking, such as allowing the doors of the car to open.

Additionally, Roblox’s new real-time voice chat translation capability will instantly translate voice chat into the listener’s native tongue starting next year for players speaking English, Spanish, French, and German.

Roblox also announced new text-to-speech and speech-to-text APIs to allow creators to build more immersive and interactive experiences.

The text-to-speech API enables instant narration and character dialogue with 10 customizable English voice presets (with more coming soon), like a nonplayable character (NPC) giving directions. The speech-to-text API supports voice commands, allowing gameplay actions like firing a cannon when a player says, “Fire!”

Roblox also announced new advancements in performance and fidelity, including a new mode called “Server Authority” that reduces in-game cheating and makes in-game physics interactions more realistic. Plus, avatars will soon have more lifelike motion, including running, climbing, and vaulting over obstacles with natural momentum. There will also be improvements in complex actions for avatars, like grasping items with fingers.

In addition, Roblox plans to launch improvements that will allow its platform to run at a higher fidelity across devices without requiring additional effort from creators or sacrificing performance.

The updates announced on Friday follow Roblox’s recent announcement that it’s expanding its age-estimation technology to all users and partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to introduce age and content ratings for games and apps on its platform. These developments come amid ongoing lawsuits over child safety concerns.