Roblox introduces Build, a mobile app that turns text instructions into playable games
The TL;DR
Roblox has launched Build, the first mobile AI creation app that produces games with text prompts, starting alpha in New Zealand on July 28.
Roblox announced Build on Wednesday, a new creative tab within the Roblox mobile app that allows anyone to turn text input into a basic playable game without touching Roblox Studio or writing a line of code. A creator can describe something like a jungle adventure game with natural obstacles, and Build will produce a starting point for gameplay, environment, characters, sound, and visual style. The feature begins public alpha testing in New Zealand on July 28 for verified users aged nine and over.
Build share ends with Roblox Studio, meaning creators can start a project on their phone and continue editing it on a desktop with the full Studio toolset, or launch agents from Studio and check progress on mobile. The system is powered by a mix of open-source and proprietary Roblox AI models trained on what the company describes as a large, unique set of 3D models and game-specific data. The base model of Roblox’s Cube, which the company introduced earlier this year along with Studio’s agent tools, produces game-ready objects that can drive, shoot, or behave as expected without manual input.
Roblox said it is aware of the quality risk that comes with lowering the bar in game development. The company said its discovery system measures games by long-term retention, not recency or volume, and that games that no one plays will not appear on the homepage regardless of how they were made. Games published from Build will go through the same security checks and retention-based discovery rate as all other Roblox titles, and games aimed at younger players will be reviewed before being added to the Roblox Kids or Select catalogs.
Along with Build, Roblox is rolling out a suite of agent tools for professional creators in the coming months. These include a playtest agent that finds bugs before players encounter them, an analytics agent that answers questions about game performance in plain language, and a test agent that identifies tests to improve engagement and monetization. A new scene generation model is also being developed that will create all editable and playable 3D environments with a single text input.
The announcement comes as AI-generated content floods platforms faster than review systems can handle it, a trend that led to an 84 percent jump in App Store submissions and prompted Apple to crack down on low-quality AI-generated apps. Roblox is betting that its retention-based discovery system will act as a natural quality filter, revealing only games that players want to keep playing.
The basic version of Build will be free, with paid options for power users. The rollout will be expanded to more regions after the New Zealand alpha, and Roblox said it plans to share creative tool announcements in the coming months. The platform has 132 million daily active users, any one of whom can now rate the game on their phone.
