The Accelerator Program is dead.

On the 8th of November 2022, Roblox officially announced the discontinuation of the Accelerator program, a program that helped to enrich developers in all facets of game design and production by involving them at the Roblox headquarters in San Mateo and providing funds to develop and ship a game.

Developer Relations member RoughSphereBlox shared the various reasons for the program’s fate, including the current and lasting aspects of COVID-19, the additional breadth of content offered in other upskilling and financing programs such as Level Up, the Game Fund and Developer Events as well as the previously non-existent programs dedicated to connect Roblox developers to engineers within the corporation

Many developers lamented the closure of the program, with some questioning why the program was closed in the first place. The Accelerator program was a source of pride for many developers, who vividly recall their days in the program, calling it as loss for the community, linking to the efforts made to cut other targeted programs such as the Roblox Developer Stars program, which enabled Roblox developers to get toys and merchandise made from their Roblox characters or from their game.

One remarks “We’re all decelerated”.

Yet, it is important to not jump to conclusions regarding “cost cutting” in today’s economy, given the upskilling content intended for developers that has already been produced. Most games that were made from the program did not usually result in financial or social success, eventually leaving them un-updated and lost to time. Most Roblox developers, let alone the general public, are unlikely to scrounge up a game that they knew came from this program. Some perhaps could muster a name or two.

It is clear that the effects of this action are already being felt by many in the developer community, with the program being farewelled, one last time.