Roblox CEO David Baszucki just threw his hat into the ring in the ongoing Apple and Google app store fight, and honestly, he might be on to something.
In a Q&A, Roblox CEO praised Epic Games for going toe-to-toe with the two biggest app stores on the planet, calling their move a “super gutsy call.” And he’s right, it was gutsy. Epic went nuclear with lawsuits. Roblox? Not so much. Baszucki seems to think this whole thing is going to be settled by lawmakers eventually.
“We do believe this will probably ultimately get solved through regulation rather than lawsuit,” he said.
He’s not wrong. Governments have started looking hard at Apple and Google’s app store rules lately, so it feels like only a matter of time before someone forces them to loosen their grip.
Roblox has been quietly pushing players to buy Robux in cheaper ways for a while now. Buy them on the web or through gift cards and you get 25 percent more for the same price. Players have noticed, and developers have noticed too, since those changes have led to more money flowing back to the people making games on Roblox.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Apple and Google take 30 percent from most big apps. They do have a 15 percent deal, but only for smaller developers making under a million dollars a year. Baszucki is basically saying, hey, Roblox is a giant platform full of tiny developers, so why are we paying the 30 percent rate?
And honestly, that’s a fair question. Roblox isn’t just one company selling one app. It’s a marketplace full of millions of kids and indie devs who are basically running microbusinesses. Charging Roblox the full 30 percent feels like punishing the entire ecosystem.
If Roblox ever got that 15 percent rate, it could actually be huge for creators. More money stays in the platform, more money flows to developers, and maybe Roblox can keep doing things like giving players better deals on Robux.
Epic chose to fight in court. Roblox is sitting back and betting regulators will eventually force change. It’s a quieter move, but if it works, it might actually do more for everyday players and developers in the long run.
You can read the entire official statement below:
Yeah. I mean, Epic arguably made a super gutsy call when they just went all in with Apple and Google and so they have to be commended for that gutsy call out there. We do believe this will probably ultimately get solved through regulation rather than lawsuit. So, probably through whatever laws our Congress passes or others. I do think over time, the things we’ve been doing, which is 25% more Robux on web, 25% more Robux with gift cards and others in some countries, that vibe gets to be pretty well known, and that’s where people start buying a lot of their Robux. So we’re already part of arguably one could say part of the 8.5% increase in DevX is the result of some amount of users flowing to those purchasing vehicles rather than others. So Apple and Google continue to be partners. We think Roblox is in a unique category of really aggregating a lot of creative people and a lot of people that are earning less than a million dollars and it is interesting for Google and Apple they say if you’re making less than a million dollars it’s 15% rather than 30%. So there is an argument why shouldn’t Roblox make 15% as well given how much aggregation we have. So stay tuned on that and I think this will ultimately get solved.