Roblox is rolling out regional pricing to make it easier for creators to build international businesses that are more responsive to their users’ local economies and market conditions.
The feature is available for in-game items starting today, and it will also be applied to avatar items later this year. Prices for these game enhancements are now automatically set to reflect each user’s local currency, and creators can choose to apply unique regional pricing for each of their items.
Early testing conducted by Roblox shows that taking a regional approach to pricing has led to users spending more in some countries, including Mexico (up 17%), Brazil (up 26%) and the Philippines (up 52%).
This new feature builds on the company’s broader efforts to make it easier for creators to turn their games into lucrative international businesses. To this end, the platform rolled out Rewarded Video ads earlier this month that give in-game currency and items to players who opt in to watch advertising.
And last year, the company introduced a price optimization feature that analyzes user behavior and transactions in games to help creators making similar ones determine where their pricing should reasonably be set. This program is open to creators of experiences with at least 60,000 transactions in the past month. And since its launch, Roblox says eligible creators have seen a median earnings increase of 4%.
Next up, the platform is focused on expanding the ways in which its developers merchandise their items, says VP of economy Enrico D’Angelo. “We’re empowering creators to connect with a wider audience, drive growth and unlock the full potential of their experiences.”
This is part of Roblox’s ambitious goal to eventually hit a billion daily active users (it’s currently at more than 85 million), and to have its creators earning 10% of the world’s US$180-billion gaming market revenue.
