Roblox will develop an AI model to create 3D scenes
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Credit: Roblox
Roblox on Friday announced it is building a generative AI model to allow creators to more easily build 3D objects and scenes.
Why it matters: Roblox aims to grab 10% of the $180 billion global gaming market, an ambition that requires it to make building on its platform as easy as possible.
Driving the news: At its annual developer conference, Roblox announced the genAI model aimed at creating 3D worlds where objects like trees look realistic from any angle and leaves sway in the wind.
- Creators can opt in to allow their content to be used to train the new model.
- The model will also be available to the open source community, Roblox said.
- It's also adding a new "party" feature that allows groups to play together more seamlessly through text messaging and voice chat, for those 13 and over.
The big picture: Roblox wants to eventually see one in every 10 dollars spent on video games go through its platform.
- It's got a long way to go, with its revenue last year coming in at about $2.8 billion, or less than 2% of the current market for gaming content.
- To get there, Roblox knows it needs to further expand beyond the teen and tween set. The company announced in the second quarter that 58% of users were 13+, up from 48% in 2021 when the company went public.
What they're saying: "We've been making a lot of progress in onboarding the older audience," Roblox chief product officer Manuel Bronstein told Axios.
- The new model, Bronstein said, is key to allowing smaller teams to create high-quality games. "Imagine a team of two or three eventually building 100-person Battle Royale games on Roblox," he said.
Editor's note: This story was corrected to show that the company said 58% of users were 13+ (not 30+).
