I truly wonder when enough will be enough for Roblox Corporation. We all know how much money Roblox is raking in, and yet yesterday it was announced that a shiny new subscription service called Roblox Plus is on the way. This new subscription is effectively replacing Roblox Premium, which for varying monthly fees you’d get varying amounts of the in-game currency Robux. Except Roblox Plus sounds like a worse deal.
Roblox Plus will apparently cost $5 a month (a price I’m sure we’ll see go up in the coming years), but unlike Premium, you won’t get any Robux for your real money. Instead, for starters, you get a 10% discount on in-game items, avatars, and “more,” with that discount increasing to 20% after subscribing for three consecutive months. Worth noting is that Roblox say they will cover the discounts, “meaning creators will continue to earn the same amount as they do today on any individual purchase.”
The subscription will also net you “access to free and unlimited private servers across all supported games.” This includes games where you’d normally have to pay a fee to do so. It also lets you transfer Robux to anyone without having to pay any additional fees, but the blog post detailing the subscription is quick to note that you have to be age-checked and over 18 to do so without parental approval. Hopefully no cons to be found here.
“Soon after launch,” there will also be optional bundles to add on. These bundles are just varying amounts of Robux, in packages of 500, 1000, or 2000, so essentially you’re just paying more a month with slightly more features than Premium. I’m not entirely sure the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Perhaps most shady of all is the way Roblox is encouraging its gamemakers to promote the subscription. Through a new Roblox Plus subscription prompt, a gamemaker can get a 250 Robux bonus per month when a user subscribes through said prompt. “This bonus applies for each of the subscriber’s first three months so long as they remain subscribed, allowing creators to earn up to 750 Robux for every new subscriber they attract,” explain Roblox Corporation.
Those that are currently subscribed to Roblox Premium will be able to continue to do so, but new members will not be able to join when Roblox Plus arrives on April 30th. However, from May 30th, the additional 10% bonus on additional Robux purchases for Premium subscribers will be going away. Certainly sounds like a move to encourage Premium subscribers over to Plus. I pray for a regular move from Roblox. One day.