Roblox has transformed from a gaming platform and creation service to a true virtual community. Today the company held its annual developer conference, RDC 2023, and announced several new apps and tools designed to help its users create more content.
in a blog post, Roblox revealed that as of the end of June 2023, 65.5 million users were playing Roblox games every day, with an average time of 2.3 hours per day. Som, thanks to the upcoming mobile app, Roblox Connect, users can chat with each other in the real world, but through their Roblox character. The company stated:
Launching later this year, Connect will allow people to call a friend from their Roblox friends list using their real name and facial expressions – conveying nuances in their body language – and transport them into a shared immersive space on Roblox for their conversation, sitting together by a fire or standing by a waterfall. Behind the scenes, we’re basically packing a Hollywood-style motion capture studio into something that runs on a mobile phone or laptop – no equipment or motion tracking points required. The device’s camera is all that is needed to capture movement and translate it in real time.
Roblox says the app was developed using public platform APIs and will be open source software after launch, which means anyone can extend its features.
The company is also working on ways for creators to make content faster and easier. For example, he develops a way to create an avatar just by using a picture and typing in some text prompts. This will allow creating an avatar to take only minutes instead of days.
Roblox also confirmed that the service will be widely available for the Meta Quest virtual reality headset later in September. It also announced improvements to the current version of the Xbox app, including “a new look, frequent updates (with access to the latest features), improved content recommendations, and an improved user experience.”
Also, Roblox will finally be added to Sony’s PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles sometime this October. This probably means a huge new audience will be introduced to the service.