• by Colin Kirkland , March 19, 2024

Roblox is updating its $35 million Creator Fund (previously known as Game Fund) to include a wider swath of game-makers including developer studios, users and brands to build content that expands beyond kids' gaming.

Roblox says the funding begins at a minimum of $500,000 per project.

The popular metaverse gaming platform -- which is used by over 71 million people every day, many of them under the age of 18 -- is now applying the fund to creators who want to make projects beyond games, like Clip It, a socially powered video-creation experience created by Neura Studios.

Clip It, which launched on Tuesday, allows users to make their own videos featuring their avatars and share them with their friends and Roblox community in real time via a built-in messaging system.

In funding this project, Roblox is doubling down on the ongoing trend of users posting videos of their avatars doing dance challenges to social-media apps like TikTok and Instagram.

Now, those videos might live primarily within the Roblox ecosystem.

Creators and developers involved now have the chance to incorporate new IP from Roblox partners, such as Paramount Game Studios.

Under the Creator Fund, established Roblox developer studio Looty Games is bringing the first battleground-style experience based on Paramount's Nickelodeon series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” to the platform.

Slated for this summer, the Avatar game will allow Roblox users to create their own "bender" and compete with other players in the “Avatarverse.”

The Game Fund was first introduced in 2022 and gained an additional $15 million the next year to promote educational games through the platform's Roblox Community Fund.

According to a Roblox spokesperson, once creators are accepted into the Creator Fund, they will work alongside Roblox to plan out their goals and project deliverables, receive funding based on their ongoing progress and collaborate with in-house experts.

By building out its Creator Fund, Roblox is competing with tech giants like Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, which all offer creators various funding and revenue-sharing opportunities.

Roblox, however, seems to be in a league of its own. In 2023, the company reported that creators on the platform earned $741 million, marking a 19% increase from the previous year.

Now Roblox is attempting to age up with its younger user base (34 million of its daily active users are Gen-Z).

Last June, the company invited users to build “mature experiences” for users above the age of 16, while attracting celebrities and brands to hire developer studios to build out immersive worlds within the platform.

For users who are not involved in the Creator Fund but want to monetize their self-created experiences, Roblox says they can make money through in-game purchases, ads and sales/resales of avatar clothing and accessories.