Roblox is a popular video game development and publishing platform that allows for anyone to design and distribute a game for play on a variety of PC and mobile devices. Sometime in late January (no specific release date has been announced yet) Roblox will be releasing an official app for Microsoft’s Xbox One console which will allow for Xbox One owners to play Roblox games, expanding the audience for the Roblox game developers significantly.
It’s unclear at this time if users will also be able to design games on the Xbox One app but since game creation is done through coding of the Lua scripting language (which is also used to make World of Warcraft mods), it seems likely that the Xbox One will be purely for consumption and that development will remain on PC and mobile. Roblox game developers have the option to charge digital currency for their titles which in turn can be exchanged for real-world money. With the large Xbox One userbase soon able to play Roblox titles, this could be a large boon for Roblox devs.
“Developing ROBLOX for the Xbox One was an entirely new and ambitious project,” Roblox’s Dan Healy said in an official blog post. “It’s a game that is unlike anything on the Xbox One and pushes a lot of boundaries that no other titles have ventured into. We worked very closely with Microsoft to make a product that fits into the mission and vision of ROBLOX as an Imagination Platform. As such, ROBLOX on Xbox is a stronger product than we originally thought we would be able to develop.
At least 15 games have been announced for play for when the app launches on Xbox One and more are expected to follow as they’re updated to support console controls. Are you interested in playing Roblox games or do you prefer to stick to traditionally published titles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
