Roblox announces short-form video app, hikes developer earnings

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By Zaheer Kachwala

(Reuters) -Roblox announced a new short-form video content application and an earnings increase for creators at its developers conference on Friday, looking to ride the wave of strong engagement and lure new users to the videogame platform.

The TikTok-style app, called “Roblox Moments,” is currently available in beta and will enable users to capture, edit and share cuts of gameplay on a common platform for players.

The app could allow the company to bring the billions of views Roblox content receives on websites such as YouTube to its own platform and further boost engagement. In the quarter ended June 30, Roblox had 111.8 million average daily active users.

For the past few years, Roblox has been making a push to turn the gaming platform into a hub for e-commerce, socializing and advertising to grow revenue streams in a highly competitive industry.

Earlier this year, the company announced a new ad format and a partnership with Google to grow its nascent ad business, and also allow creators to boost their earnings.

Roblox’s business model revolves around the purchase of in-game currency (Robux) from users playing and making games, allowing the company to stay ahead of the content treadmill and retain players with regular content updates.

At the developers conference, CEO David Baszucki announced an 8.5% hike on how much creators can earn when they convert their earned Robux into money.

He added that the creator community has earned over $1 billion in the last 12 months, with over 100 games making more than $1 million a year.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)