Another month has passed, and our intrepid developers continue to earn real-life cash via our Developer Exchange program. We’ve cashed out over $46,000.00 since we introduced the Developer Exchange in early October. We promised then that we’d be keeping a close eye on what ROBLOX developers are doing with the money they earn, as well as how they managed to earn it. Before we get to personal anecdotes, let’s look at the latest statistics.

Statistics

• Total cash earned since October: $46,550.00
• 63 developers earned a total of $14,850.00 in November
• Average November earnings: $235.71
• 65 developers earned a total of $15,150.00 in December
• Average December earnings: $233.07

Creative Director John Shedletsky, who works closely with our game-development community, chimed in with his thoughts on DevEx thus far.

The ROBLOX Developer Exchange is one of the most exciting experiments that we have ever run at ROBLOX, and one that we are watching closely. In the three months that DevEx has been live, ROBLOX game creators (i.e., famous names you would recognize from the Games page) have made more than $46,000 USD total. Needless to say, this has been a very popular feature for some people, and there is a lot of demand for us to expand the program.  

The great news for developers trying to earn money on ROBLOX is that here in R&D, we’re looking at a continuous stream of developer-oriented features that are going to come out in the first quarter of this year. So from where I sit, on ROBLOX at least, 2014 is shaping up to be the “year of the developer.” 

Stories from the community

We got the chance to talk with some of the developers who have earned cash this past month to see what they’ve been working on, and where the money is going. Our first interview was with EncryptX, developer of the popular ROBLOX title, The Bermuda.

ROBLOX: Seems like you’re making a real killing selling Game Passes and gear for your place.

EncryptX: Game Passes are huge for me, and have been very successful. The two that sell the most are the VIP and Pilot’s License. They add both abilities and functionality. The VIP Game Pass helps you complete quests, while the Pilot’s License adds more to the fun factor of the game. It allows you to explore the map more efficiently and in a different way.

ROBLOX: Do you have any plans in particular for the money you’re earning?

EncryptX: I plan on getting a nice pair of western boots, and plan on paying my dad back for my umpiring gear. After that I’ll start keeping some of the money aside to save up to get a car.

ROBLOX: Any advice you care to share with people looking to replicate your success?

EncryptX: Keep working at whatever you do and make. Success doesn’t happen overnight, it takes genuine dedication. I spend a lot of time making nice in-game structures, and graphics for badges, thumbnails and decals. Put in the work.

I also had the chance to have a brief chat with BRIANO10, leader of The Real U.S.S.F, one of ROBLOX’s largest military groups. This was his DevEx story:

I put a lot of hard work into my games and people really seem to enjoy it. The compliments and mass amount of friend requests were always enough of a reward for me, but now I can make real money from all the hard work I put in. My friends and family would see what I was doing on ROBLOX and say, “that’s cool, but it’d be even cooler if you were able to make real money.” Now I actually am making real money.

I’m going to save some money to get my first car, and use some of it to maintain my super computer. I’m thinking about getting a nice big GTX 780 GPU in a few months. I still have a lot of ROBUX to cash in and a lot more games to make.

As always, we’ll continue to track the numbers and share our findings with the community. We’re also still in constant talks about various ways to improve DevEx to reward our prolific builders — it’s your hard work and perseverance that make ROBLOX what it is, after all. Stay tuned.