Roblox Weekly Recap (7 January 2024)

Table of Contents

• Platform Updates

• Stock Updates (NYSE:RBLX)

• Why Good Icons Are Important

• News And Incidents

Platform Updates

There were barely any updates this week as Roblox engineers were on winter holidays.

Removing User Ads: It is now Q1 2024, User ads will soon be removed according to a post made in October 2023 by Roblox which said that user ads will be removed in Q1 2024 to make user experience non-intrusive.
Read more: https://devforum.roblox.com/t/upcoming-ads-roadmap-and-changes/2660524

New Studio Layout: Revealed at RDC, This Studio UI overhaul is supposed to start rolling out in beta this year. A Roblox admin too confirmed that it is expected to release as a preview in a few months.
Read more: https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-studios-new-ui/2600103/24

Hair & Fabric Physics: Apparently Roblox is working on enabling hair and fabric on avatars to react to wind or collisions. A Roblox admin too confirmed that it is expected to release as a preview in a few months.
_{Source: Twitter (𝕏)}

Stock Updates

NYSE:RBLX isn’t doing too great. Share price fell from $46.02 to $41.74 between 29th December 2023 and 3rd January 2024. Many analysts were expecting the stock to go up in value but it seems like the value can’t stop slipping.
Additionally, David Baszucki (CEO) and his brother Gregory Baszucki (Director/Board Member) both sold hundreds of thousands of shares worth $5M.

Why Good Icons Are Important

Roblox games must have a visually appealing icon because it is the game's first visual depiction. By quickly communicating the topic and style of the game, it serves as a gateway, drawing in potential players. In addition to drawing attention, a well-designed icon establishes expectations, sparking interest and curiosity.

A powerful icon also helps the game stand out from the competition and become instantly recognisable. Besides, It is known that the algorithm promotes games that have icons with high click through rates.

@1Coal wrote a great thread on this topic on Twitter (𝕏), You can check it out here. I’ll be going over more examples here though.

Your goal while making an icon is to find a winner. This is a very common term in ecommerce but can be used in other scenarios such as this one too.

Here’s some factors to look into while creating an icon:

• Look at your current players. What appeals them and piques their interest?

• Look at your competition. How do they go about acquiring new users? What kind of icons are they experimenting with?

• Find out through market research what kind of image would persuade a lot of users to become players.

• Focus on demographics. Once you know your target audience, it will be easier to decide what strategy to use to draw them in.

• Optimize continuously. Finding your target audience isn’t a “set it and forget it” activity. Make frequent revisions so your icons don’t become fatigued.

Once you’ve finished crafting multiple icons, Test them all via sponsors and the one with the highest CTR is your winner.
That’s not the end though, You have to keep innovating to find new “winners” through trial and error. Like I mentioned before, Having the same icon for a long duration of time can cause it to become fatigued.

You can find some examples of solely an icon change increasing player count by upto 10x below:

News And Incidents

Hyperion anti cheat has been bypassed. A developer has allegedly managed to bypass Byfron’s anti cheat by sandboxing CPU instructions such as syscalls, memory checks, HWID checks, etc.

This year’s Developer Challenge has been unveiled. Developers must participate in teams of 1 to 5 and create a game in 48 hours to have a chance at winning upto $1,000.
Read More: https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-developer-challenge-2024/2779970

Streamer and Youtuber IShowSpeed has been caught exploiting in multiple Roblox games such as Bedwars and Jailbreak. This even caused him to receive a 95 year long ban in Bedwars.

Volkswagen Group’s brand Lamborghini recently sold three digital items on Roblox for 1,500,000 Robux each. They quickly sold out despite a hefty price tag. The accessory, Lamborghini's Golden Bullhead is an item that can be worn by a user’s avatar. This item includes a trip to lamborghini’s HQ in Italy, vouchers and special roles in their Discord server.