Your game's thumbnails and video: 10 slots, 3 videos a month and what gets rejected

Your game's storefront — the images and videos at the top of the page — is what decides whether somebody clicks play. And it has rules almost nobody reads before needing them, because they look like a design subject and are, in practice, a policy subject.

The detail that costs most: a rejected video spends the quota all the same. This guide covers the specification and, above all, the list of what gets a video rejected.

The problem

Starting with the space: you can display up to ten images or videos on each game's detail page. Ten is a lot, and most games use two or three — often the image generated automatically from the Studio camera at the last publish, which nobody chose.

There are three types available. The uploaded image, which complements the game icon and helps the player know what the game offers — free, no quota. The uploaded video, free but with a monthly quota of three uploads. And the automatically generated image, which comes from the Studio camera position at the most recent publish.

And everything goes through moderation: every uploaded image and video is moderated according to the community standards and the terms of use.

The quota arithmetic is what turns this into a planning problem. Three uploads a month means you have three attempts — and if two are rejected on policy, you have one left. It is not a limit on how many videos stay live; it is a limit on how many times you can try.

Step by step

1. Respect the image specification. The thumbnail should be in a 16:9 aspect ratio and ideally 1920 by 1080 pixels, so it always appears in high resolution on the site and in the app. The accepted formats include .jpg, .gif, .png, .tga and .bmp.

The route in the dashboard: choose the game, go to Configure and then Places, choose a place, and click Thumbnails in the left-hand navigation. There are two tabs — one for the home page and one for the detail page.

2. Organise and describe. Uploaded thumbnails can be reordered, deleted or given alt text. The order matters because the first one appears most; alt text is accessibility, and it is the most ignored field on the whole screen.

3. Decide about video with your eyes open. Once approved, the video appears first on the game page — it is the first thing a visitor sees.

But there is a reach limit that changes the strategy: Xbox, PlayStation and VR headsets do not support video thumbnails. For those players, the first image remains the storefront. Anyone putting all the effort into the video and leaving the images to automatic generation is presenting the game badly to part of the audience — and does not see that from the inside.

4. Film real gameplay. The central requirement is that: the video has to be authentic and accurately depict the game's content, with no misleading alteration.

What is allowed is more generous than it seems, and worth knowing:

• Camera. Varied, aesthetic or cinematic angles are allowed as long as they show real gameplay. Studio's free camera is the recommended tool for that.
• Light post-production. A small adjustment to brightness, contrast or a light visual effect is acceptable, as long as it does not alter the game's real visual fidelity. Overlaying the game's own logo or branding is acceptable too.
• Editing. You can show optimised matches or a highlights format, and they do not have to be linear — but they have to show real mechanics and interactions.
• Interface text. Text that is part of the game's interface — a character name, a menu, a prompt — is acceptable, because it is part of the authentic view of the game.
• Music from the Roblox catalogue.

That list of permissions is worth reading as what it is: an invitation to produce carefully. Cinematic camera work is allowed, highlights editing is allowed, light colour correction is allowed, and the game's branding can appear. What the policy forbids is not production — it is promising what the game does not deliver.

The distinction is clear in an example. Recording the most beautiful moment in the game, from an angle an ordinary player would never use, with a cut every two seconds, is allowed: that happened in the game. Pushing the saturation until the scene is more vivid than it is, is not: the player is going to join and see something else.

5. Upload through the dashboard. For an image, the route is Thumbnails in the left-hand navigation. For a video, it is the video section, in the same part of the dashboard. Both screens sit inside the place configuration, not the game's — and that is why plenty of people look in the wrong place.

The artifact

The document below gathers the technical specification, the quota limits and the two lists that matter — what is allowed and what gets it rejected — with a final check to walk before uploading.

It exists because of the quota arithmetic. With three attempts a month, the six-line check at the end of it costs two minutes and is worth a month.

Common mistakes

The five reasons for rejection are specific, and most of them catch people who were not trying to deceive anybody:

Misrepresented gameplay. It is forbidden to show a mechanic, interface element or interaction that does not actually exist in the game. The official example is direct: a roleplay game cannot be promoted as a racing game. And the theme counts too — a horror game has to show horror elements.

The case that catches honest people is the old video. You recorded the version from three months ago, removed a mechanic since then, and the video still shows it. There was no intent; the rule is about the result.

Artificial visuals. The graphics shown have to represent the real look. It is there to prevent artificially enhancing the graphics beyond what the player will see. Here the line between "a small brightness adjustment", which is allowed, and artificial enhancement, which is not, depends on judgement — and when in doubt the player's criterion applies: will they recognise the game when they join?

External content. It is forbidden to include real-life footage of people, places or any content external to the game. That rules out the opening with the creator's face, the reaction clip, the stock image at the start — all common practices in promotional video on other platforms.

Spoken audio. Narration, voiceover, voice chat conversation and music with lyrics are not allowed. That is the one that surprises most: a well-edited video with a popular track over it is rejected because of the track. The way out is music from the Roblox catalogue.

Advertising. Overlaid text should be used sparingly and only to describe gameplay context — something like "collect coins to jump higher". It is forbidden to include text, visuals or audio that are advertising, promotional or subjective claims. The examples the documentation itself gives are "50% off" and "free UGC".

That last one is the most counterintuitive for anyone coming from marketing, because promotional language is exactly what works on other platforms. Here, the promotional line is grounds for rejection — and the rejection costs a third of the month's quota.

Next step

The highest-return work today is probably not the video. It is looking at how many of the ten slots your game uses, and how many of the images that are there were chosen on purpose.

Ten images is room to tell a sequence: what the game is, what you can do in it, what is newest. Images have no quota and no cost — the only limit is the work of producing them, and moderation. A game with two thumbnails is leaving eight slots for nobody.

After that, fill in the alt text on the ones that already exist. It is quick, it improves accessibility, and it is one of those things that stay done forever.

It is also worth revisiting the storefront when the game changes. A thumbnail is the promise the visitor receives, and it ages along with the game: an image of an area that was removed or a mechanic that changed becomes, without anyone noticing, exactly the kind of thing the video policy forbids. Doing it at the same moment you publish a big update solves it for free.

And if you are going to produce a video, produce the checklist first: record knowing there can be no voice, no music with lyrics, no external footage and no promotional text. Re-editing after a rejection does not give the quota back.

GAME STOREFRONT — specification and limits. Checked on 23/09/2026.

== SLOTS ==
  up to 10 images or videos per game detail page
  image: free, no quota
  video: free, MONTHLY QUOTA OF 3 UPLOADS
  auto-generated: free (comes from the Studio camera at the last publish)

== IMAGE ==
  aspect ratio ..... 16:9
  ideal size ....... 1920 x 1080 pixels
  formats .......... .jpg  .gif  .png  .tga  .bmp
  extras ........... can be reordered, deleted and given ALT TEXT
                     (accessibility — almost nobody fills it in)

== VIDEO: WHERE IT DOES NOT APPEAR ==
  Xbox, PlayStation and VR headsets do not support video thumbnails.
  => the first IMAGE remains the storefront for those players.

== VIDEO: WHAT IS ALLOWED ==
  [ok] varied, aesthetic or cinematic camera angles,
       as long as they show REAL gameplay (Studio free camera helps)
  [ok] small adjustments to brightness, contrast or a light visual effect
  [ok] overlaying the game's own logo or branding
  [ok] optimised matches / highlights, they do not have to be linear,
       but they have to show REAL mechanics and interactions
  [ok] text that is part of the game's INTERFACE (name, menu, prompt)
  [ok] music from the Roblox catalogue

== VIDEO: WHAT GETS IT REJECTED ==
  A REJECTION SPENDS QUOTA. Three rejections = a whole month with no video.

  [x] a mechanic, interface or interaction that does NOT exist in the game
      (a roleplay game promoted as a racing game)
  [x] graphics artificially enhanced beyond what the player sees
  [x] real-life footage: people, places, anything external
  [x] voiceover, narration, voice chat conversation, music WITH LYRICS
  [x] advertising, promotional or subjective text/visual/audio
      (the examples given are "50% off" and "free UGC")

== CHECK BEFORE UPLOADING A VIDEO ==
  [ ] does every mechanic shown exist TODAY in the published game?
  [ ] is the video's theme the game's theme? (horror shows horror)
  [ ] is the look what the player will see, with no artificial enhancement?
  [ ] zero spoken audio, zero music with lyrics?
  [ ] zero footage that did not come from the game?
  [ ] does the overlaid text describe gameplay rather than sell?