Roblox is trying to make it possible to create AI-powered games within its mobile app. This could make a platform already filled with content of questionable quality feel even more overloaded. The company has embraced AI with open arms, with previews of an ambitious effort into AI world models similar to Google’s Project Genie, an AI foundational model that developers can use to generate 3D game assets, and an AI assistant chatbot that can assist developers while building games. The tools announced today will make it much easier to use AI in Roblox game development, but the company is starting small.
The new feature, called “Build,” “brings mobile-first AI creation to Roblox, allowing anyone to turn text prompts into basic games directly within the Roblox mobile app,” according to a blog post. Build handles “gameplay mechanics, environments, characters, visual style, sound, and more,” leveraging both Roblox’s own AI models and open-source models.
Roblox positions Build as enabling “rapid exploration and refinement of ideas,” but depending on how much the AI tool lowers the barrier to entry, it’s easy to imagine that people might start building games en masse. However, the company claims that games created with Build are ranked by the same retention-based criteria as other Roblox experiences, so games that aren’t played will theoretically go undetected by Roblox’s detection system.
“Our discovery system is designed to highlight long-lived games that don’t contain AI slop,” Roblox says. “The quality of the games on our homepage hasn’t changed. If no one plays it, no one will find it.”
Initially, Build will be available in public alpha from 28 July to age-verified New Zealand users aged 9 years and over. Published games can be played worldwide by users 16 years of age and older. A “basic level” version of Build is available for free, but there are also “additional paid options for power users.” Roblox doesn’t have any details to share about these paid options at this time, but the company plans to share more information “as we continue to roll out to more regions in the coming months,” said spokeswoman Juliet Chaitin Lefcourt. The Verge.
Roblox is also working on new AI agents to help developers available in both Build and Studio, including playtest agents, analytics agents, and agents that can run experiments to help improve engagement, retention, and monetization. These are expected to ship in the “coming months.”
