Roblox inches toward a deeper, more mature vision for the metaverse

techcrunch.com:

Roblox outlined a vision for the future of its busy social gaming platform on Friday, incrementally ushering its community into a new era that might not always resemble what’s come before.

At RDC, its annual developer event, the company highlighted new features designed to improve the experience, with a focus on expanding the platform to offer more sophisticated experiences to age groups beyond the 13-and-under crowd that’s long been its bread and butter.

In its last earnings call, the company revealed that people age 17 to 24 make up the fastest-growing slice of its current audience, a fact that’s sure to be shocking to anyone who’s dipped a toe into its endless candy-colored portal of simple games and virtual hangout spaces.

Roblox grew its daily active users by about 10 million in the last year, so the core experience is clearly working for a lot of people — even if its appeal and aesthetic is largely incomprehensible to most adults. That modest growth might not be enough for a company driven to outgrow its image and attract an older demographic.

To expand the platform along with its user base, developer community and, increasingly, the brands interested in setting up shop there, Roblox wants to deepen its experiences across the board. While Roblox offers overwhelming breadth, it’s not exactly known for depth. But by layering on improvements to avatars, chat, and even its physics engine, Roblox plans to evolve. Most things on the platform still sort of look that one way for now, but increasingly the old will mix with the new — and so too will the stubby Lego-like avatars mix with their longed-limbed brethren.

Image Credits: Roblox

In the last year, the company announced that it would overhaul its simplistic graphics with