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RBLXSubstantive discussion · 3/5Save idea

Platform focus over first-party game features

The guest argued that platforms should avoid building specific gameplay features (like clan rankings) and instead trust third-party developers to build those experiences.

The argument

Roblox spent significant time building out clan and ranking systems internally, only to throw them away. The guest realized this was a mistake of trying to be in the gaming business rather than the platform business.

The thesis, stress-tested
✓ What validates it
  • Successful deprecation of first-party clan features without harming user engagement
▸ Risks discussed
  • Wasted engineering resources on discarded features
  • Risk of overstepping and competing with the platform's own developer ecosystem
Hear it yourself
"We should have trusted the developers to, like, you go build your game with that stuff rather than us saying we wanna be in the gaming business rather than the platform business. We spent a lot of time building out some of that kind of clan ranking functionality, clan point stuff, and we threw it all away."
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RBLX: Platform focus over first-party game features · Zortix