by Kayly Lange

Roblox is ostensibly a kids’ gaming platform — but it’s grown into something far, far larger than that. More than half of the kids in the U.S. under 16 played Roblox in 2020, and the brand jumped from a value of $4 billion in 2020 to $45 billion in 2021. (In comparison, the company that created one of the most popular kids’ games ever, Fortnite, is valued at $17.3 billion.)

If you aren’t familiar with Roblox, here’s a very quick overview. Roblox isn’t a game in and of itself, it’s a platform that enables users to create and play games — some free, some paid, some free-to-play with in-game purchases. It has its own currency (Robux) and ecosystem of digital products. You can play Roblox games on a wide variety of systems, including PCs, macOS, iOS, Android, and Xbox One. 

One reason users are attracted to Roblox is its thriving creator economy — there’s a chance to earn some real money there. Some top developers are making seven figures annually on the platform, and while that’s rare, there are lots of others making anything from a little side cash to a full-time living. At the very least, Roblox can be a great side hustle for those who already love the game — and for kids looking for an alternative to traditional “kid jobs.” If paper routes still exist, Roblox might be the final thing that ends them for good.

In this article, we’re going to dive deep into the ways you can earn money on Roblox. We’ll also cover some strategies for how to make your creations stand out through marketing and community engagement.

One quick note before we start: Regardless of which Roblox monetization route you choose, it’s important to be active in the Roblox community to pay attention to trends. If something has already been hot for a while on Roblox, you’re likely too late. Try to get ahead of the trends to maximize on them. Roblox works a lot like the stock market: invest early to cash out when it peaks.

Ways to make money with Roblox: Creating games

The first, and probably most enticing, way to make money on Roblox is by making games. The equation is simple enough: Create games users love and they’ll spend money on those games. 

When you earn Robux for your games, you can either use it to fund your own playing on other games or sell it back for actual cash at the Roblox Developer Exchange. (You can also use it to run ads for your creations, which we’ll cover in the marketing section of this article.)

There are a few guidelines for trading Robux for cash:

• You must be at least 13 years old

• You must be a member of the Roblox Premium (a paid monthly membership starting at $5)

• And you must have at least 100,000 Robux in your account.

The exchange rate from Robux to U.S. dollars is $0.00035 per Robux dollar as of press time. That means that you can get $350 if you cash out the minimum 100,000 Robux.

Roblox also puts a monthly limit of $1,050,000 (aka 300 million Robux) for withdrawals. Keep that in mind when you create the most popular Roblox game ever.

How to create Roblox games

While there is a fine art to creating games that actually sell, Roblox makes it pretty simple to get started on game development.

Roblox’s Developer Hub offers free courses that can teach you development fundamentals and give you exercises to practice. You’ll start by making small objects and learning how to use them within a game, then graduate to more advanced concepts. Roblox uses the scripting language Lua, which is one of the more straightforward programming languages (especially when compared to other game development languages) — but like any scripting language, it will take time and practice to learn.

Roblox Studio is the 3D platform where developers create their games for Roblox.  It's free to download and works with both PC and Mac. Once your game is ready to release, you can then publish it on the Roblox website.

Of course, remember that games require a lot more than just coding: They require planning, story, art, design, strategy, testing, and more. So after you’ve gotten comfortable with the tools, you’ll then need to put a lot of thought into all of the other aspects of the game itself to make it fun, engaging, and worth paying for.

5 ways to make money from your Roblox games

There are several monetization techniques you can use to earn profitable, recurring revenue from your game.

Paid entry

The most straightforward way to make money from a game is… charge people to play it. Even with the large number of free games available on Roblox, players are willing to pay for premium games. If you can create a high-quality game at a fair price, you can charge users to play.

For example, a user with the handle Coeptus (who has never revealed their real name) created one of the most popular games on the platform, Welcome to Bloxburg. Although it is only available through paid access, it has amassed almost 5 billion visits since 2016. Experts estimate Coeptus earned more than $5 million from the game.

Game passes

A very popular monetization model in Roblox (and, really, most video games today) is free-to-play (FTP) with optional spending. A player can play an FTP game without spending a dime, but in order to get a wide variety of benefits, they’ll need to pay. The FTP model is largely employed in Roblox through one-time paid game passes. Some types of game passes you could offer include:

• Access to restricted areas or levels which are locked to FTP players

• Avatar items

• Permanent power-ups and abilities

Products

Aside from games passes, which are one-time purchases, many games offer upgraded products that players can purchase repeatedly with Robux. This can include currency specific to your game (so yes, people would use U.S. currency to buy the Robux currency to buy your game’s proprietary currency). It can also include any other items relevant to your game, from gear to weapons to power-ups.

One of the top FTP games on Roblox, Adopt Me!, works much like the Tamagotchis of the ‘90s. In the game, users can adopt a pet for free and care for it. However, they also can purchase an egg instead that will then become a unique animal. Adopt Me! brings in an estimated $50 million a year with this and other in-game offerings.

Private game servers

If you’ve created a collaborative game, sometimes groups of friends might want to play together without strangers joining in. You can offer paid private game servers, which allow users to decide who can and can’t join in their game.

Benefits for premium players

We touched on Roblox Premium earlier, and it’s clearly in Roblox’s best interest to have as many players buying those subscriptions as possible — so they incentivize game developers to cater to those players. The longer Premium players spend playing your game, the more of a bonus payout you’ll receive. 

It’s also possible to gate off areas of your game and make them available only to Premium players; you can even prompt those players to sign up for Premium right there within the game.

Ways to make money with Roblox: Selling and trading items

If creating an entire game seems like a lot — which it is — you can use your creativity and skills to make items to sell to Roblox players instead.

User-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is another way users can make money. It’s a lot less involved than creating entire games — but, as a result, there are more people doing it so it can be a lot more competitive. To sell UGC, you can create items that users can buy at the Roblox Avatar Shop like accessories and clothing; or assets users can buy at the Developer Library like Plugins, Audio, Models, and Decals.

You must be a Premium member to sell clothing and other UGC on Roblox. Roblox provides information on how to create and upload clothing with a step-by-step process for those new to it; but essentially, it just comes down to graphic design and an artistic vision.

Creating UGC that sells is challenging — much like designing and selling products in the real world, customers in the Roblox world have their own tastes, preferences, and quality standards — but it can be quite lucrative for those who do it well. The top-selling item at one time, a pair of virtual sunglasses called Deal With It, has generated almost 20 million Robux (worth about $67,000). Keep in mind that this is just one item of clothing. The user that generated these glasses earned about $150,000 for all of their creations in the first six months their UGC was released.

In order to earn money, though, your items need to be popular. That means you may make a lot of UGCs that don’t generate attention, only to make a significant amount of money from one UGC item. It also means that you need to make something that will stand out from the competition, which can be fierce. However, with an eye on the popular trends (both in Roblox and in the real world) and in the game, Plus a strong creative vision, you can create items that become popular. Smart marketing and creating a loyal following are also critical ways you can stand out from other creators and get your items noticed, especially as the Avatar Shop becomes more competitive.

(Note: There may also be ways to make money with UGC inside of specific Roblox games. That money will probably be that game’s currency, not Robux, which won’t turn into actual in-real-life cash — but can still have value to you as a player. For instance, in Welcome to Bloxburg, you can design and build houses, then sell them to other players for the Welcome to Bloxburg’s in-game currency.)

Trading limited items

Limited items are made by the creators at Roblox and put up for sale in the Avatar Shop for very short periods of time. They are both exclusive and popular collectables, which means many players are willing to pay top dollar for them. 

Those who cannot or do not purchase these items in time can buy them from another player. So if you get your hands on one, you can flip it either immediately or in the future for Robux — and maybe a lot of those Robux. Linkmon99 is a Roblox YouTuber who made 150 million Robux ($525,000 in real money!) as of 2021 by trading limited items on Roblox.

Ways to make money with Roblox: Selling your services

As we mentioned earlier, selling games and selling UGC will most likely involve quite a bit of marketing (unless you get really lucky). If you don’t want to get into the whole marketing thing but still want to make money developing on the Roblox platform, there’s another route you can take. Roblox’s creator economy, much like the real economy, isn’t exclusively composed of entrepreneurs. There are also real, paid jobs to be had for people who just want to use their specific talents and not run their own business empires.

Some developers will hire freelancers to develop games and items on the platform for them. They may need help with specific areas (like 3D modeling, map design, scripting, or art) or just want a team working on the game to get it done as quickly as possible. 

You can earn real money (or, I suppose if you wanted to be paid in Robux, those too) creating for others without taking on the risk if your game or item doesn’t perform well.

How to get Roblox creator jobs

Create a portfolio

Employers in the real world wouldn’t just take your word that you’d be great at your job, and employers in the Roblox world are the same. A portfolio is the perfect way to show off your work and let them know what you’re capable of creating. (Here’s Roblox’s template for what you should include in your portfolio.)

Keep in mind:  Many people looking for a Roblox developer to hire are sifting through dozens, even hundreds, of applications. Make sure that you create a polished portfolio that leaves a great first impression of your top work.

You may need to initially work for free to get valuable examples in your portfolio. Offer to help friends or other creators on Roblox to create impressive samples, or make a few games of your own.

Other things you may want to include with your portfolio:

• How long you’ve been creating on the Roblox platform

• Tangible examples of how your development work led to success (e.g., “After implementing my new item designs, sales went up 80%.”)

• Any other relevant skills you have, like being able to code in different programming languages

Post your portfolio in the right places

Roblox’s Talent Hub has an area where you can post your portfolio. It might be helpful to read other posted portfolios to see what is being offered and in demand.

Make sure to use anywhere from one to four relevant tags on your post to get the most views based on what you are offering (e.g., scripting, building, modeling, etc.). Also, try not to have interested parties comment on your portfolio. It can make your post run long and look unprofessional. Instead, encourage everyone to message you privately if they are interested.

Also, Discord is an excellent forum to put up your portfolio. There are also job boards, like gamejobs.co, which may even post full-time jobs for Roblox programmers and creators.

Make a great impression

Reputation and word-of-mouth are crucial for successfully selling your services. A great way to get hired is to develop a reputation as someone who’s incredibly helpful. Get involved in discussions on the forums and provide valuable advice. It can help establish your name as a knowledgeable source who people can trust.

When you do get hired, be polite and make sure the entire scope of work is discussed before you start working. Once you’ve started, stay in communication with your client. Give them updates about where you are with the work and deliver on time.

Ensure that you are working with trusted developers to avoid being scammed. Check their history to make sure there’s nothing sketchy in their past. If you have any qualms about a client, walk away. It is better than potentially being scammed.

Ways to make money with Roblox: Selling a Roblox course

While Roblox does offer free courses on how to learn the basics of development on the platform, many creators want to dive deeper and learn more specialized skills. If you have these skills, like an in-depth knowledge of coding or game development, you can create a paid online course.

Websites and tools today make it easier than ever to record and upload a course (check out Thinkific, Podia, and LearnDash to get started). The online learning industry is booming: experts estimate it will grow from $107 billion in 2015 to $370 billion in 2026. (Now, we don’t know how much of that money is going to go toward Roblox courses, but with the growing popularity, we’d expect the share of the pie to keep growing.)

How to create a Roblox educational course

Pick your topic

The best way to figure out what type of Roblox course can make money is by answering two questions: What do people want to learn? And what isn’t currently being taught? Keep an eye on the forums to find answers to what people want, and regularly search Roblox courses to find out what’s not being taught.

Some broad topic areas you may want to consider could include coding for specific genres of games, how to create UGCs that sell, or how to flip limited items for profit. For example, this course teaches you all the basics of Roblox in one hour, while CodaKid teaches kids as young as eight how to code on Roblox with a fun course. 

Pick your monetization model

There are four different models to choose from when it comes to monetizing your knowledge:

• Videos for purchase. When users purchase one of your courses, this model gives them unlimited streaming so they can go back and watch it at any time. You can choose to either offer the video in a download or have it on a password-protected page on your website.

• Subscriptions. In this model, your customers pay a monthly fee to access paid content on your channel. With subscriptions, you can create a paywall that will separate any free content from paid.

• Paid plans. Paid plans give your customers more flexibility with the different levels of content and the option of a payment plan. Decide the type of plans you want to offer, what they will include, and how long the payment plans will last.

• Real-time education. You can teach personalized lessons to individual students. Tools such as Zoom and Loom enable you to chat with a student or share your screen with them so that you can create a tailor-made approach. This one-on-one, bespoke tutoring can also demand higher rates — but unlike the three options we just listed, it’s active and not passive income. 

Create your course materials

Once you have gathered what you want to teach and how you want to offer it, you can create your course.

Start by doing your research. Even if you are already an expert in the subject, take some time to dig deep into what you want to teach. Make sure that the information you have goes beyond what they could learn via Google searches. Research multiple places, including competitor classes and webinars. While you don’t want to steal their content, ensure that you have a thorough knowledge that others can learn from and answer any questions your students may have.

Next, outline exactly what you want to teach. What will each section discuss? What kinds of questions will you answer? Create sub-topics you will cover within the sections. This will give you a clear direction to take your course.

After you’ve created an outline, it’s time to film your content. You may want to record yourself in front of a whiteboard going over the content, create PowerPoint slides that help summarize what you’re saying, make fun animation videos, take a screen capture video that shows exactly what you are teaching, or all of the above. Make sure your information is easy to understand and switches things up enough to make it interesting for your student.

Once you’ve finished recording, take time to edit the content. There’s quite a bit of paid editing software to choose from, but even free software, like Lightworks and iMovie, can help improve the raw footage by cutting out long pauses and creating shorter and more vibrant clips. You can also add background music and slides to make the course more interesting.

Finally, create assignments. Assignments will help your students get more out of your lesson. Include downloadable PDF files, online quizzes, learning games, or competitions. Software like Kahoot can help you create some quality assignments.

Ways to make money with Roblox (and/or market your creations): YouTube

As Roblox’s popularity continues to grow, its popularity on YouTube is growing proportionately. Creating original Roblox-related content on YouTube can be a way to make money, either from YouTube ad revenue and sponsorships, from marketing your original Roblox creations, or both.

How to create a Roblox YouTube channel

Tips for topics selection

Here are some things to consider when you’re coming up with a YouTube strategy.

• Bring unique value. Uploading a video of you playing a game on Roblox probably won’t cut it. Think about what unique value you can bring to the Roblox community. What does the community want to see that isn’t being served? For example, you could recommend lesser-known games, discuss games in a specific genre, cover UGC trends, or make great how-to videos.

• Plan out your videos and come up with a unifying topic or niche. Just making general “Roblox videos” is a good way to get lost in the sea of YouTube content. Figure out your specific niche and make videos around that specialization. If you’re using YouTube for marketing your creations, pick a video niche that relates to what you do as a creator; for example, if you make puzzle games, your best bet to attract your target customers is to make a YouTube channel around puzzle games.

Tips for video production

And here are some ideas when it comes to producing and uploading your videos.

• Lead off with something exciting. You don’t have a ton of time to hook a viewer — less than a minute, and probably closer to 15 to 30 seconds. Make the openings to your videos as dynamic as possible. Introduce yourself, your video topic, and its unique value proposition within the first 20 seconds.

• Edit your videos. Increase the production quality of your video — video and sound quality matter — and edit your videos to make them more watchable.

• Create a catchy title for your video. The title is what will draw people in to start watching. Brainstorm a few different titles. Remember: People like lists, secrets, and ultimate guides. (Umm… maybe we used that last one for this article.)

• Create a strong thumbnail. Your thumbnail should catch the eye — thumbnails remain a key reason why people do or do not watch a YouTube video. Your video description should effectively summarize what your video is about. That description will help with search engine optimization, both on Google and within YouTube, so your video will show up when users type in related keywords.

• Upload videos regularly. Establish a cadence of your videos and stick to it — your subscribers will appreciate and expect that. We’d recommend uploading at least once a week. 

For inspiration, check out some of the top Roblox YouTubers: Flamingo, GamingwithKev, and MooseCraft Roblox.

Roblox marketing: How to make money off your Roblox creations

Creators don’t love marketing. This isn’t true 100% of the time, but it sure feels like it’s true 99.9% of the time. Unfortunately, the old mantra “if you build it, they will come” doesn’t really apply in popular, crowded marketplaces. So no matter how you try to earn money on Roblox, there are some fundamental marketing steps you should take to increase your chances of success.

Build a fanbase (or at least a reputation)

It’s tricky to sell to people who’ve never heard of you. So if you develop a fan base, you now have a built-in audience to market to initially; from there, word-of-mouth can spread and your games or items can rise up the charts.

Engage with the community

You can build a fanbase — or, at least, a reputation and a “name” in the community — first and foremost by getting involved with the community. Answer people’s questions and engage in powerful conversation in places like the official forums, subreddits like r/Roblox and r/RobloxGameDev, and Discord servers. This will help build up your authority as an expert and a valuable member of the community. 

Once people know your name, they’ll be far more willing to take a look at what you’re selling. Plus, growing your name could grow your opportunities; once you’re established in the Roblox world, you might have opportunities to guest post on blogs, be interviewed on podcasts, or have your creations featured by top Roblox YouTubers.

Build your social media presence

Another good way to build a fanbase is through social media. We’ve discussed YouTube extensively, but you could pick another platform — Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc. — and create Roblox content there. Engage on those platforms, post compelling content, and other Roblox players will follow you. Then, when you’re ready to sell something, you’ll have a receptive audience.

You could also create an email newsletter around a Roblox topic, start a blog, start a podcast, host Clubhouse chats — whatever platform you choose, just be sure to create consistent, high-quality content to provide value as you build your fan base.

Paid advertising

Your Roblox creations are a business and as a result, you may need to spend money to make money. (Just to quickly audit the cliches we’ve used, “if you build it they will come” isn’t true, but “gotta spend money to make money” is.)

Roblox has its own ad system that lets you promote games and items in its catalog. That advertising real estate can be competitive and, therefore, pricey — but you’re never going to find customers more ready to buy than there. You also pay for those ads with Robux.

You can also run more traditional ads for your Roblox creations and services, like Facebook and Instagram ads, YouTube sponsorships, and podcast ads.

The wrap-up

There is plenty of potential to earn money on Roblox. However, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you’re not willing to put in the time and effort needed to build your skills, create quality games and assets, and continuously learn more, then perhaps Roblox should remain a hobby. (It is a game, after all. You don’t need to turn it into a money-making venture.)

For those who have a passion for making money on Roblox, though, there are many options and lucrative opportunities in its creator economy. With the right strategy, consistent work, and great products, you can start making real money doing what you love.