How to Publish a Roblox Game — From Studio Build to Live Experience

Publishing from Studio: the actual flow

Every Roblox experience begins as a place file inside Roblox Studio. The first launch is a short ritual: build in Studio, press Play to test, then choose File → Publish to Roblox. The Publish Experience window asks for a name, a description, the creator (your account or a group) and which devices the game should support; Create does the rest. For later updates, or to add a new place to a game that already exists, you use File → Publish to Roblox As… — pick the existing game tile instead of creating a new one, and your live version is replaced in place.

The rule that changed: publishing now has reach tiers

Publishing used to be a single flat action. It is now gated by who the experience targets, so "how much does it cost to publish" has a different answer for each audience:

How much Robux does it cost to publish a game?

This is the question most readers arrive with, and the short answer is: nothing, all the way up to the "all ages" tier. Publishing to a private or 16+ audience is free, and hosting and updates stay free at every tier. The Robux figure people quote is the optional 1,000-Robux publishing fee — a one-time, refundable charge you pay only if you want the game reachable by all ages (Roblox Kids and Select accounts) and do not hold a two-month Roblox Plus or Premium subscription.

Two details make that fee less alarming than it sounds. First, it is refundable: if the game keeps 25 highly engaged players for 60 days without a moderation strike, Roblox returns the 1,000 Robux. Second, it is an alternative, not an extra — you satisfy the gate with the subscription route or the fee, never both. A separate, larger expedited-review fee (listed as 100,000 Robux in the Creator Hub) exists for creators who need a guaranteed, timed all-ages launch; it too is one-time and refundable after 90 days.

Worked examples

Example 1 — your first publish (free). Build the game, test in Play mode and on a private test server, then File → Publish to Roblox. Leave the audience on Private or Trusted Friends + 16+ and your out-of-pocket cost is 0 Robux — no fee, no subscription. You can add playtesters through the audience settings long before you consider a public launch.

Example 2 — reaching all ages. To put the game in front of Roblox Kids and Select players you need ID verification and 2FA on the account, and one of the gates. If you already subscribe to Roblox Plus or Premium, do nothing more — two consecutive months clears it. If you do not, you can instead pay the 1,000 Robux publishing fee: about the price of a mid-range game pass, and refunded if you hold 25 highly engaged players across 60 days without a moderation strike.

Example 3 — shipping an update. Players are already in the live game. Open the same place, make the change, and publish with File → Publish to Roblox As… over the existing tile. The new version replaces the old for players who join next, and restarting the servers pushes it to sessions already running. Updates carry no publishing fee — the fee gates reaching a new audience, not editing a game you already ship.

The storefront players judge in two seconds

Discovery is decided by the thumbnail long before anyone reads your description. Upload thumbnails at 1920×1080 (16:9) — Roblox stretches whatever you give it to that ratio, so other shapes are distorted — as .jpg, .png, .gif, .tga or .bmp, kept under roughly 3 MB. A game page can hold up to 10 images or videos, and the first one carries most of the weight. Video thumbnails are free but capped at 3 uploads a month and do not display on Xbox, PlayStation or VR.

Then write the description like a search result: lead with what the game is and the phrase a player would type, without stuffing keywords. Set the genre and supported devices correctly, and complete the content-maturity & compliance questionnaire — it decides which age groups can even see the game, so leaving it blank quietly caps your reach.

Monetization and the 70% rule

Turn monetization on after the experience is stable, not before. The two workhorses are game passes (one-time buys that grant a permanent perk) and developer products (consumables such as currency or boosts). On both, Roblox takes a 30% platform fee and the creator keeps 70% of the Robux spent. Private servers are a third, simple line: set a Robux price and hosts pay to run your game on their own.

Because only 70% of a sale reaches your Earned Robux balance, price with the fee in view. If you later want to turn those Robux into cash, the exchange rate, the 30,000-Robux minimum and the review steps are covered in the fee and DevEx calculator and the DevEx guide.

A pre-launch checklist

Before you press Create on a public launch, walk this list — each item is a reason games stall at zero players:

• Test on a live server — publish privately and play it as a real client would; some bugs only surface off Studio.
• Name and description — keep the name consistent and descriptive, and open the description with the genre and the hook. Skip emoji spam.
• Thumbnail first — upload the 1920×1080 image before launch; the default auto-thumbnail almost always loses the click.
• Devices — enable only the platforms you have actually tested; a broken mobile or console build costs more than a missing platform.
• Maturity questionnaire — complete it, or your reach is silently capped for younger audiences.
• Monetization off — leave passes and products switched off until the core loop is stable.

What you can change after publishing

Almost everything is editable post-launch: name, description, thumbnails, genre, devices, monetization and audience. Two deserve care. The start place — to swap which place opens first, use Configure → Places, then re-publish with File → Publish to Roblox As… and Overwrite the current start place (choose As… rather than plain Publish, or you risk overwriting the wrong place). The audience — widening it is what triggers the reach tiers and any fee, while narrowing straight back to private never costs anything.

Sources and standards

FAQ