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Building original branded games on Roblox

What makes a new Roblox game take off?

By Matthew Warneford, CEO

Published 16 September 2026 · Figures as of March 2026

A new Roblox game has about 30 seconds to win a player over. Dubit spends them on a genre that is already popular, which cuts what a player has to learn. The game differentiates on theme, mechanics and progression. Then we design it for the six signals we name in Roblox's algorithm. They include how long players stay and whether they come back the next day.

New games take off on a trend wave. Dubit's read is that the biggest new Roblox games typically succeed by riding one, and sometimes more than one. One kind is internet culture, the memes and formats players already quote, such as "Brainrot" humour. Another is the genre itself. Escape games, wave survival, obbies and tycoons surge regularly, and once one is hot players go looking for new variations of it. The last is hype, an unexpected twist, social chaos or high-stakes play that gets a game talked about and streamed. Designing into one or more of them raises a game's chance of working.

We evolve a popular genre instead of inventing one. A new Roblox game has about 30 seconds to win a player over. So Dubit evolves a genre that is already popular rather than teaching a new one, which cuts what a player has to learn. We call it "evolution beats revolution". Building an original game inside a trending format lets it ride demand that already exists, and stand apart on theme, mechanics and progression.

We build for what the algorithm looks at. In Dubit's reading, Roblox's discovery algorithm since 2025 can put hundreds of millions of plays behind one game. Keeping a game at that scale means designing for the six signals we name in it. They are time in the game, players coming back on day 1, day 7 and day 30, and ratings and favourites. The rest are how often the game is updated, whether players invite their friends, and whether they start spending.

This page also answers

  • How long does a new Roblox game have to win over a player?
  • Should a new Roblox game invent its own genre or build inside an existing one?
  • Which signals does Dubit design a Roblox game around?
Matthew Warneford

CEO

Matthew Warneford is CEO and co-founder of Dubit. The studio builds immersive experiences for brands including Disney, Samsung, and the Grammy Awards, with work recognised by the 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards and the Shorty Awards. In 2025 he advised policymakers at the House of Lords on gaming as economic infrastructure.

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