Roblox Growth Design

When to Load

Quick Reference

Diagnose before prescribing

1. Ask for dashboard, release, acquisition, and session evidence. Never invent metrics.
2. Find the narrowest broken transition: impression→play, join→control, action→payoff, return, or purchase.
3. Write a falsifiable hypothesis: If Y changes because evidence Z, X should move without harming G.
4. Prefer one test with a primary metric, counter-metrics, MDE, and decision rule.
5. Stop for safety, severe regressions, or invalid instrumentation; avoid significance peeking.

Home diagnosis

• Low Play-Through Rate (PTR, was QPTR): packaging readability, promise accuracy, or audience mismatch. Also check Experience Detail Page CTR.
• High First-Play Bounce Rate (negative stat): misleading package/clickbait, join failure, performance, confusing FTUE, or delayed payoff.
• Low D1: core loop, onboarding, stability, goals, or first payoff.
• Low D7/D30: progression, variety, social value, LiveOps, endgame, or exhaustion.
• Low conversion/ARPPU: product fit, value communication, friction, catalog depth, or concentration.
• Low 7-day spend days / play days per user: consumables, purchase pathways, or event cadence.

Algorithm hotspots (2026)

• Cold traffic: ads are the cheapest, least-qualified players; Home algo ranks the qualified audience. Launch stats look bad on ad players — don't panic.
• Ranking: genre-wide first, then against "experiences with similar players." That second benchmark is the real competition.
• Ads do not buy Home placement; meaningful stat-improving updates do. 28-day signals (D1, D2–7, D8–28) — updates take days to show.
• Beta mode hides a game from Home; tune metrics on cheap ad traffic before opening to the algo.
• The 500 highly-engaged-player requirement (official): all-ages games start 16+ only until 500 highly engaged age-checked plays within 60 days. Definition (official, evolving): account tenure + playtime in your game + a purchase anywhere on Roblox in the last 60 days. 100 = publishing-fee refund threshold (separate). Ads serve 16+ automatically. Home impressions accelerate the count fastest.
• Experience detail page matters: put your best thumbnails and a gameplay description there; it feeds overall play-through.

Monetization mental model (practitioner)

• Convert valuable one-time game passes into consumables (repeat-purchase dev products) — they pump 7-day spend days per user and solve recurring pain.
• Products must be must-haves that solve a pain (effort grind, losing progress AFK, FOMO, status). Limiteds with real scarcity outsell unlimited cosmetics.
• Place products at points of interest with high foot traffic, and time prompts at the decision moment (e.g., 2x offline earnings at the collect point).
• Give players multiple purchase pathways: HUD shop icon, "+" next to currency, and a cash-shop popup after repeated failed buys.
• After shipping, check collateral damage: playtime, D1, D7, FTUE, and in-game economy.

Guardrails

Full signal definitions, positioning, FTUE, packaging, social design, monetization mental model, algorithm mechanics, LiveOps, and audit workflow: references/full.md