Roblox launches a $35 million fund for creators and its answer to TikTok
The gaming platform looks to expand its reach beyond kids’ gaming as it opens its fund to new kinds of apps.
Roblox officially has its own creator fund, the company tells Fast Company in an exclusive announcement.
While the company previously offered a fund for games makers and designers, the expanded $35 million fund, will encompass developer studios and users who want to build things beyond games on the server—and one of the first partners is a short-form video service, nudging into the social media landscape.
“The newly titled Creator Fund, previously Game Fund, is one of the many programs we have in place to support creators as they build next-gen experiences on Roblox,” Matt Curtis, Roblox’s vice president of developer relations, tells Fast Company. “We’re excited to announce that, with this evolution, Roblox is expanding the types of content funded by the program, bringing new opportunities for Roblox’s network of creators across the globe. Our Creator Fund allows even more creators and IP holders to join the program while still staying true to its original mission of empowering creators who want to build something that has never existed before.”
Roblox joins a long list of tech companies competing for creator attention. Around the launch of Instagram Reels in 2021, Meta was offering creators bonuses up to $35,000 in an effort to grow the platform. Snapchat launched its creator fund for independent music artists in 2022, which it expanded last year. And some creators have reported making thousands of dollars a month on Pinterest’s creator program. As far as TikTok sunsetting its $1 billion creator fund in November of last year, it replaced it with another revenue-share program that encourages long-form video posting on the platform.
Roblox, a metaverse platform that hosts user-created games, has historically offered funds for “innovative gameplay” projects, but the Creator Fund will expand to projects beyond games. Additionally, those receiving funds will also be able to incorporate IP from Roblox’s partners, including Paramount’s Nickelodeon Avatar: The Last Airbender. “Roblox’s vision for creators is to enable creation of anything, anywhere, by anyone,” Curtis says.
Yevheniy Shestopalko received Roblox creator funding as part of the independent studio Neura for his creation of Clip It, a socially powered, short-form-video creation tool for Roblox that appears similar to TikTok and Reels. With Clip It, users can make their own videos featuring their custom avatars, chats, texts, images, sounds, and animations, as well as select from a library of backgrounds and animations. “Clip It is designed for easy creation and sharing of short-form-video content, allowing users to quickly create characters, make memes, follow fashion trends, and share stories,” he says.
Creators who are accepted into the Creator Fund will work closely with Roblox to define key project deliverables, receive funding based on their progress toward milestones, and collaborate with in-house experts, Curtis says. The fund will also be open to professional developer studios, independent students, and brands building on Roblox. Funds are available on a rolling application basis.
Fast Company
