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> A key value at Roblox is “Respect the Community,” Yet they still take a 30% cut on all transactions that go to content creators / developers

busymom0 5y ago
That high percentage doesn’t mean they do or do not respect the community. Saying this as someone who doesn’t know much about Roblox but does give 15-30% to Apple and Google. Google definitely doesn’t respect their developers. Apple kind of does.
- sam0x17 5y ago
  Apple and Google also disrespect their developer communities, probably more than any companies out there. Anything over 5% is ridiculous and was seen as such originally before Google and Apple made this the norm.
  - busymom0 5y ago
    I don't disagree with you. I was just stating that Google is absolutely horrible whereas Apple at least let's us developers talk to a human being.
    - sam0x17 5y ago
      Apple is the worst of them all. They are much more restrictive and arbitrary with their app store policies (see previous HN articles over the last 5 years), they have done much more to lock down their devices to prevent circumvention of things like banning emulators, and they don't license the apple device model to other vendors, so they are the true definition of a walled garden. Google has plenty of problems too, but at least random device companies can make android devices, and third party app stores are (sort of) allowed to exist.
      - busymom0 5y ago
        You aren't wrong. Though I was mostly talking about customer service part and development relations in terms of that. Google regularly bans developers for absurd reasons or no reasons at all, doesn't let them talk to any humans until the developer causes enough twitter storm and gets some tech sites to write about it to get some attention from Google. Apple at least lets the dev talk to human beings.
fdjsafidoas090 5y ago
Why are these things not mutually exclusive?
- sam0x17 5y ago
  Anything over 5% is highway robbery and the kind of thing that only exists in concerningly unregulated capitalism. I promise you someday legislation will put an actual legal limit there. Just wait for these zoomers to reach voting age.
  - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
    Payment processors charge around 3% plus fees (charge back fees and transaction fees). I think the value that Roblox adds makes them deserve much more than a measly 2% more than a generic payment processor would get. 15 or 20% is probably a good middle ground
    - withinboredom 5y ago
      I assume they have a deal with Apple and Google for less than 30% on in-app transactions. That probably means Roblox is getting between 10-20% of the transaction.
      - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
        They also have PC and Mac version of it. I have some friends who have played Roblox on PC and my younger cousin plays on iOS. I wonder what the market share looks like between them
        withinboredom 5y ago
        That's interesting. I didn't know about the PC version! I'd also be curious of the market share there.
    - sam0x17 5y ago
MertsA 5y ago
Isn't that basically the status quo from Apple and Google as well? Not to mention Steam. 30% feels high but at least for Roblox they built the game, I feel like that's much more justified than Google and Apple where they're just collecting a huge chunk because they have a captive market. With Roblox's ecosystem it doesn't feel quite as usurious as Google or Apple doing it on their app stores.
- sam0x17 5y ago
  It's not justified for any of them, and if they all don't cut it out they're going to get slapped with a law putting it at 5%, and we will all laugh at them.
thedevelopnik 5y ago
More like 75%. Roblox is a terrible company that pays company scrip to exploit kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ

busymom0 5y ago

That high percentage doesn’t mean they do or do not respect the community. Saying this as someone who doesn’t know much about Roblox but does give 15-30% to Apple and Google. Google definitely doesn’t respect their developers. Apple kind of does.

sam0x17 5y ago
Apple and Google also disrespect their developer communities, probably more than any companies out there. Anything over 5% is ridiculous and was seen as such originally before Google and Apple made this the norm.
- busymom0 5y ago
  I don't disagree with you. I was just stating that Google is absolutely horrible whereas Apple at least let's us developers talk to a human being.
  - sam0x17 5y ago
    Apple is the worst of them all. They are much more restrictive and arbitrary with their app store policies (see previous HN articles over the last 5 years), they have done much more to lock down their devices to prevent circumvention of things like banning emulators, and they don't license the apple device model to other vendors, so they are the true definition of a walled garden. Google has plenty of problems too, but at least random device companies can make android devices, and third party app stores are (sort of) allowed to exist.
    - busymom0 5y ago
      You aren't wrong. Though I was mostly talking about customer service part and development relations in terms of that. Google regularly bans developers for absurd reasons or no reasons at all, doesn't let them talk to any humans until the developer causes enough twitter storm and gets some tech sites to write about it to get some attention from Google. Apple at least lets the dev talk to human beings.

fdjsafidoas090 5y ago

Why are these things not mutually exclusive?

sam0x17 5y ago
Anything over 5% is highway robbery and the kind of thing that only exists in concerningly unregulated capitalism. I promise you someday legislation will put an actual legal limit there. Just wait for these zoomers to reach voting age.
- weird-eye-issue 5y ago
  Payment processors charge around 3% plus fees (charge back fees and transaction fees). I think the value that Roblox adds makes them deserve much more than a measly 2% more than a generic payment processor would get. 15 or 20% is probably a good middle ground
  - withinboredom 5y ago
    I assume they have a deal with Apple and Google for less than 30% on in-app transactions. That probably means Roblox is getting between 10-20% of the transaction.
    - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
      They also have PC and Mac version of it. I have some friends who have played Roblox on PC and my younger cousin plays on iOS. I wonder what the market share looks like between them
      - withinboredom 5y ago
        That's interesting. I didn't know about the PC version! I'd also be curious of the market share there.
  - sam0x17 5y ago

MertsA 5y ago

Isn't that basically the status quo from Apple and Google as well? Not to mention Steam. 30% feels high but at least for Roblox they built the game, I feel like that's much more justified than Google and Apple where they're just collecting a huge chunk because they have a captive market. With Roblox's ecosystem it doesn't feel quite as usurious as Google or Apple doing it on their app stores.

sam0x17 5y ago
It's not justified for any of them, and if they all don't cut it out they're going to get slapped with a law putting it at 5%, and we will all laugh at them.

thedevelopnik 5y ago

More like 75%. Roblox is a terrible company that pays company scrip to exploit kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ