Building a Sustainable Rec Room

[MafiaDaGoose]

i wanna buy it (previously also had it for over 14 months) but i can’t, (check my latest post)

[Trekkie]

@PaandaCat

currently, Maker AI can really only move, color, and spawn inventions. Nothing else. It’s really “useful”.

I’m okay with this being an accessibility feature, for people with mobility issues, deafness, etc.

In it’s current form that’s about all it is, and I’m cool if it just stays like that, but IF it gets to the point where it can generate terrain and put together CV2 systems, I don’t want it in the game at all. At the very least, not allow MakerAI rooms to be featured, participate in contests, or earn room rewards.

@PaandaCat

And to people who can use circuits YOU SHOULD.
You don’t have to use the AI to create circuits if you know how to use circuits.

I spent years of learning and hard work to get to the point where I am with CV2, but Lvl. 5 FastTapir832516 shouldn’t be able to create the systems I can just by prompting an AI.

@PaandaCat

I know it could be used to create trash and bad games… but locking it behind Recroom Plus should be the way to go, as then players will hopefully be inclined to strive for excellence in game design and development too!

Not could, will. Locking tools like RRS and Avatar Studio behind RR+ has proven time and time again that even in a limited pool of select creators, slop creators WILL create slop. Giving them more tools to make slop isn’t the way to go.

[DeadlyPixels]

I must be one of the few that actually still likes rec room. I’m building games and tbh rec room is my happy place. I love it.

[ItemLabel]

When you guys go out of business can you please make the game open source

[Chomper5554]

You cannot make a good game with just AI. People who think they can will quickly learn otherwise. You still need to know what you’re doing

[PaandaCat]

@Trekkie

I spent years of learning and hard work to get to the point where I am with CV2, but Lvl. 5 FastTapir832516 shouldn’t be able to create the systems I can just by prompting an AI.

Before I start… if I sound like a brat I apologize I just talk very rudely so pls don’t take it personally.

Anyway

I agree that for any kind of creation event or challenge thing should be created by a player rather then an AI

BUT what Recroom really wants is to get more people to create games… not good games prob just… games

Ai will be used to create cash grabs and fill up the watch with stupid stuff
Honestly Recroom should just not promote any Room that was created with AI…

Also talking about myself I would use maker ai to create film sets or even just to get a basic idea for what I should create for a film set wether the set was created with AI or created by me I would disclose the information in my videos description or in the comments like so: “this set was created by maker AI” or “I was the person who created this set with inspiration from AI” and whoever’s watching can choose to like or not
(but ngl I prob wouldn’t create sets a lot I’d just use my dorm room or room temples lol)

I hope you can understand what I said bc I can’t word words yk

[DeadlyPixels]

I want rec room to continue. I have an insane amount of time and energy invested in the maps I’ve been working on for, quite literally, years. Please address the problems people are screaming about. It’s everywhere…here, reddit, discord, youtube. At very least RESPOND to their concerns.

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

I get you upset with how game is going but your making it seem like this is a problem for everyone when in reality a lot of people enjoy this game some even enjoy the newer updates and the newer beans too im a 2020 player too and I love these new updates sure they have their flaws but they are still enjoyable it seems like when u mean OUR money you mean YOUR money and when u speak for everyone in rec room your talking about yourself, everyone doesn’t hate this game your just one of those people that do and all they did was ask for something fair so pls calm down

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

you got another right here with u

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

are you making a joke as well listen didn’t have to say this whenever YOU get mad at how the game is going u cover it up by bringing the whole community into it a lot of us including me enjoy this game and for u to call it a joke is actually laughable dude you literally have no idea what they are putting up with at headquarters and at this point it seems like your just rage baiting if u hate this game soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much then just delete your account delete the game and never reinstall it again like dang

[LPM5461]

Most players are not going to give up Rec Room only because it has issues. The entire point of this creator forum is to make the problems that the players have, heard. If that means that a player needs to critique Rec Room on the bad choices that they as a company have made, that’s perfectly fine. Sure, there is a small amount of players that have no problem with the current state of the game, but the majority agrees that Rec Room really needs to get themselves together. We won’t just leave because of that

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

listen on a calm note I understand rec room has problems like every other game and some aren’t very happy but there is a difference from tryna get the problems that community wants to be fixed heard and just completely degrading rec room like saying their begging for money calling them a joke etc etc be nice even when u critique rec room on the choices they have made there is a lot of example from people who have done the same because rec room is nice when they make updates on this forum they’ve only been nice in this forum

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

you are probably one of the only people that treat their opinion as important while not outright being exaggerative about rec rooms problems thx for being respectable (pls Dont call me a glazer )

[LPM5461]

Yes, Rec Room has always been trying to remain kind and respectful in this forum, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are ignoring the community. Again, the entire point of this forum is for the problems of the community to be heard. If Rec Room ignores us, what is the point? It’s actually a joke for this game to fall apart because the company won’t listen.

[A_Hopeful_Spirited_Soul09]

if rec room doesn’t listen then whats the point in not being respectful, talking pure crap about them won’t solve anything that’s the point I’m getting at ,treating them like absolute animals will not make them wanna listen, if u wanna be heard insults ain’t gonna cut it and it wont solve anything, otherwise it seems like your being immature

[twistedMarauder]

@RecRoomJeff

The team has been hard at work on updates to Rec Room Plus, and we’re excited to roll them out… SoonTM. We think RR+ is the best way for players to support the game - so we’re focusing on making RR+ an obvious choice for active players. This means in the near future you’ll see changes to how we talk about RR+ in the app and changes to how we develop features for RR+ members. We want to strike a balance between providing a great free experience and making RR+ a premium membership well worth joining.

We’ve been talking a lot internally about monetization. We want to share this internal post from our CEO Nick to give some important context on the topic as we move forward. Here it is in its entirety:

Building a Sustainable Rec Room

For the last nine years, we’ve made an illogical choice as a business: we’ve kept the doors open while operating at a loss.

Rec Room has never been profitable. We’ve consistently spent more than we earn, and we’ve depended on investor funding to keep going. That’s how most software companies get started, but it’s not sustainable, and it has to change if we want Rec Room to be around for a long time as an independent company.

It’s time for Rec Room to stand on its own. It’s time for us to rely on the people that play Rec Room, that love Rec Room - not our investors - to keep us in business.

The Monetization Challenge

Let’s be honest: Rec Room isn’t great at monetizing. The numbers are clear. Fewer than 2% of our players spend money each month. That means 98 out of 100 people play for free. This has always been true, but it can’t remain true.

Some games can make that kind of conversion rate work. Match-3 games that have extremely low operating costs can. No real-time multiplayer, minimal support needs, no trust & safety costs, no complex content storage. Or, in some cases, games where a small group of players spends huge amounts of money can make that work, like social casino titles.

That’s not who we are, and it’s not who we want to be. We want to build a sustainable business by offering a fair value to a broad base of players, not by depending on a small group to carry the load with outsized spending.

Rec Room is Expensive to Run

We’re a live multiplayer platform. That means we need servers, moderation, storage infrastructure, and customer support. We recently made the very difficult decision to reduce team size to lower costs. That was painful for everyone. Still, we have substantial operating costs - people and systems - where there’s not much more we can easily cut. So to keep running Rec Room for a long time, we need a broader base of paying players.

The Good News

We have the players. We have the engagement. There are games at our scale that generate the revenue needed to sustain a business like ours.

Millions of people play Rec Room each month. Millions of them are deeply engaged playing regularly for six months or more. But even among this group, very few spend money.

We don’t need everyone to pay. That’s not realistic. And we don’t need people to pay on day one. But if someone has been playing Rec Room for months, or even years, it’s a strong signal that they like what Rec Room has to offer and we shouldn’t be shy about asking them to contribute.

And they don’t need to contribute much. Just frappuccino money. A Rec Room+ subscription costs about the same as a venti frappuccino at Starbucks. If just 1 in 5 of our long-term players (6+ month tenure) subscribed, Rec Room would be sustainable.

Lean Into Rec Room+

We’re going to focus on growing Rec Room+ among our deeply engaged players. That starts with three steps:

1. Explain Our Subscription Better
A lot of players already have Rec Room+. It’s a good deal, and retention is strong. But the way we present it? A giant wall of text? It’s awful. Let’s fix the basics and clearly communicate why it’s worth it.

2. Be Deliberate About Our Subscription
As we build new features—and even look at some existing ones—we need to assess whether they should be fully free, free up to a point, or part of a subscription. Different features have different costs to operate and different value to our players. We need to strike the right balance so what we’re offering aligns with what it takes to keep Rec Room sustainable. Obviously, we’ll need to do a great job at communicating this to the community. This isn’t easy to explain. So let’s be transparent and help them understand what we’re optimizing towards.

3. Get Comfortable Asking
We need to get over the discomfort of asking our most dedicated users to support the service. Yes, every monetization change gets us roasted on Discord and Reddit. That sucks—I hate it too. But I want Rec Room to stick around. If we can’t ask the people who play for dozens or hundreds of hours to spend a little money, then we’re not going to make it as an independent company.

The Path Forward

Here’s the good news again: we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The users are here. The engagement is here. The infrastructure is already in place.

What we need to do is simple: ask more clearly, more confidently, and more effectively for our long-term players to support the service they love.

We had a tough start to the year. You’ve all been working hard to make sure we can bounce back. We’ve got an amazing set of features coming up. Let’s make sure we’re using that momentum to get Rec Room on a sustainable footing, so we can be around for a long time.

MAKE THE GAME FINISHED AND UNBUGGY FOR CREATORS TO EVEN COMPLETE CONTESTS OR CREATIONS IN ROOMS 2.0 BEFORE YOU MAKE CONTESTS DEMANDING ROOMS 2.0 AND BEFORE YOU ASK FOR MORE MONEY THAN IS SPENT ALREADY ON THE GAME?!

[twistedMarauder]

Don’t demand more money for an unfinished game that’s more buggier the more days go by and needs more updates than Destiny 2

[twistedMarauder]

You have no right demanding more money from people for a FREE GAME that capitalized on the players cash to fund their needs and updates, that’s just sad to ask their community for money when your workers barely get paid anything and don’t even do their job correctly…

[RumblingZebra8257]

i’ve never seen a game sterilize itself to this extent before, there isn’t a lick of personality left in any aspect of this game

all of your actual long time dedicated players were pushed away by your own doing years ago and now it’s seriously insane to imagine people actually begged to let them support your game with their wallets before any sort of microtransactions were introduced.

rec room plus will never go anywhere unless you make it worth subscribing to, making a million posts and ads about your glorified token bundle is not gonna suddenly make everyone buy it.