Game On: Roblox unveils new AI, monetization updates for creators

“Game On” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.

NEW RELEASES: This week’s biggest new release is Take-Two’s (TTWO) first-person shooter game “Borderlands 4,” which launches on September 12 for PC, Xbox Series X/S (MSFT), and PlayStation 5 (SONY). The game is also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 (NTDOY) on October 3.

ROBLOX: Last week, Roblox (RBLX) announced a suite of new innovations at its 11th annual Roblox Developers Conference, an invite-only event for Roblox’s creator community. “The new releases are designed to help Roblox creators bring to life compelling content, scale their audience, increase their earning potential, and build successful businesses. Last year at RDC, Roblox CEO David Baszucki shared Roblox’s vision to have 10% of the global gaming content market flow through the Roblox ecosystem and be distributed within the Roblox creator community. In the 12 months ending June 30, 2025, creators earned over $1 billion via Roblox’s Developer Exchange Program, and they are on track to exceed this in 2025. Today’s announcements will provide the Roblox creator community with even more tools and opportunities to thrive,” the company stated. “Our goal is for developers to have the opportunity to transform their ideas into growing businesses. Time and again, we see that when we give our creators powerful tools and opportunities, they create things that inspire us by pushing the boundaries of creative possibility. At Roblox, better tools, including many with AI capabilities, will help creators get from idea to shared reality faster,” added Nick Tornow, Roblox Senior Vice President of Engineering.

Among the event’s major announcements were a number of AI updates designed to offer creators artistic freedom, enhanced functionality, and smarter development assistance, including 4D objects, real-time voice chat translation, a text-to-speech API, a speech-to-text API, and assistant improvements. The company also announced several advancements in performance and fidelity to its game creation tools, as well as new tools and partnerships to provide creators with more ways to drive engagement and expand their communities, including a beta for a new short-form video experience for sharing and discovery. Roblox also increased the DevEx rate, with creators earning 8.5% more when they turn their Earned Robux into cash.

Additionally, the company announced a strategic partnership with the International Age Rating Coalition, IARC, the standard for content ratings for digitally delivered games and apps. This integration will facilitate age and content rating assignments for Roblox experiences by rating authorities across various countries and regions. “Roblox is committed to creating a safe platform for our users and empowering parents to make the best decision for their children,” said Matt Kaufman, Chief Safety Officer, Roblox. “We’re excited to partner with IARC and hope it will provide parents globally with more clarity and confidence regarding age-appropriate content.”

Following the announcements, BofA raised the firm’s price target on Roblox to $171 from $159 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. Roblox plans a full roll out server authority by year-end, which is “a major development” as it means that competitive gameplay will more closely resemble industry standard competitive shooters such as Call of Duty, the analyst tells investors in a recap after the “many announcements” made at RDC on September 6. The firm, which felt Roblox announced “an excellent balance of features aimed at both supply side productivity and demand-side TAM expansion,” says its valuation reflects increased confidence in the company’s long term growth trajectory. Meanwhile, Arete analyst David Mak upgraded Roblox to Neutral from Sell with a $116 price target.

Click here to check out recent Media Buzz Sentiment on Roblox as measured by TipRanks.

SWITCH 2 LAUNCH: Nintendo repeatedly pushed back Switch 2’s launch after its game designers asked for more time, believing focusing on gameplay beats advanced hardware, Bloomberg’s Vlad Savov and Takashi Mochizuki reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Fly notes that this has long been a core tenet of Nintendo’s approach to console manufacturing and game development.