In the 2026 edition of his yearly games industry report, market analyst Matthew Ball shared a sobering statistic: Since 2021, Roblox has been responsible for over 60% of the games industry's net growth in consumer spending outside of China.
Evidently, Roblox thinks those are rookie numbers. Today, Roblox announced Roblox Plus, a new subscription plan the company says is "designed to deliver more value to its users." Its features, however, include some unsavory monetization tactics.
Replacing Roblox's existing Roblox Premium subscription when it launches on April 30, Roblox Plus will offer subscribers a 10% price discount on purchases using Robux, increasing to a 20% discount after a subscriber's third consecutive month. On its website, Roblox says it will cover the discounts, so "creators will continue to earn the same amount as they do today on any individual purchase."
Plus subscribers will also have "free and unlimited" access to private servers, even for games that would normally charge each player a Robux fee for the privilege. And subscribers can send Robux to other players without transaction fees. If your eyebrow just raised, Roblox says "users must be age-checked and 18+ before they can send or receive without parental approval."
Like the sunsetting Premium subscription, Plus will grant access to item trading and selling on Roblox's marketplace. But what it won't feature is Premium's included monthly stipend of Robux, or its included 10% bonus on purchases of additional Robux.
Existing Roblox Premium subscribers will be able to continue their subscription, but they'll lose their 10% Robux bonus starting May 30. While Roblox says it will offer optional bundles that will add a monthly amount of Robux at additional cost "soon after launch," it means that a player who might just be looking for a monthly Robux dripfeed will be required to pay more than they had previously—an additional cost that the Plus discount on purchases using Robux doesn't immediately soften.
To offset the potential loss of every Plus subscriber gaining access to paid private servers in every game, Roblox says creators "can earn up to 100 Robux for every Roblox Plus subscriber who spends 60 or more cumulative minutes in a game's paid private server over the course of 30 days." Roblox says it will only pay out for the five private servers where each Roblox Plus user spent the most time—a criteria that could incentivize creators to design their games to demand as much attention as possible.
Roblox Plus also allows creators to implement a prompt to their games encouraging players to subscribe to Roblox Plus. As a reward for successfully convincing a player to subscribe, Roblox says the creator will receive a "bonus" of 250 Robux per month for each of that subscriber's first three months.
In its API documentation, Roblox provides a sample script which prompts users to subscribe to Roblox plus when their character interacts with the object the script is attached to. Players that purchase a subscription are then "immediately granted the reward and teleported to an exclusive area."
"Roblox Plus provides a new path for users who want to get more out of the platform and for creators looking for more ways to earn," Roblox said in its announcement. "This launch is only the beginning."
PC Gamer has reached out to Roblox for comment, and we'll update if we receive one.
