Roblox RDC: Stand-alone apps, expanded AI tools, and new creator monetization

This week is the 12th annual Roblox Developers Conference (RDC), a private Bay Area event for the platform's creator community. At the event, the San Mateo, California-based company announced updates designed to expand access to user-built games and provide creators with new development tools and ways to earn money.

This latest update does not tackle child-safety concerns that have continued to affect Roblox in the U.S. and abroad in recent weeks, even after age-restricted accounts were introduced in June. Despite those concerns, the platform remains hugely popular. In a press release provided to Polygon, the company says players spent 29 billion hours on Roblox last quarter across more than 180 countries.

Below is a summary of the major changes announced for Roblox at this year's RDC:

New Ways to Play Roblox

• Creators can choose to offer their games as stand-alone apps on mobile, PC, and consoles, with Roblox providing the underlying technology and services.

• By the end of this year, players will be able to join a game in a browser, so a shared link can take them directly from discovery to play.

• Creators will be able to blend online and offline modes in a single game, enabling single-player campaigns and sessions without a network connection.

• Roblox is expanding its engine to support 2D games through a new orthographic camera, animated image containers, and direct sprite-sheet import.

New Development Tools in Roblox

• Build, a Roblox app tab that lets anyone create and publish a game via prompts, is expanding its public alpha to Serbia and Singapore. Roblox is also adding tools meant to give creators more control, including a new asset library, desktop access, and iterative control.

• Scene Generator, coming later this year, will bring prompt-to-scene features to both Build and Studio, with more creator control available in Studio.

• Roblox is broadening what NPCs can do with two new behaviors planned by year-end, including NPCs that can playtest.

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New Monetization Tools for Roblox

• Roblox Wallet is a financial account built to scale with creator businesses, letting creators earn directly in real currency, get paid automatically every business day, and move funds to other Roblox accounts or an external account, with richer earnings analytics in Creator Hub. Airwallex, the payments provider behind Roblox Wallet, is not currently available in five U.S. states: New York, Nevada, Hawaii, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Asked for clarification on how Roblox Wallet would work in those states, a representative told Polygon, "For some US customers, they [Airwallex] partner with trusted US banks to provide payment services."

• Connected to Roblox Wallet, Roblox Card will let creators spend their available balance anywhere the card is accepted, and will begin rolling out in 2027. "Roblox Card will be a card connected to a Roblox Wallet that functions like a debit card. The Roblox Card will allow creators to access and spend the available balance in their Wallet on real world expenses, anywhere major card networks are accepted. It is not a credit card. There is no line of credit or loan," a Roblox spokesperson told Polygon.