While Roku is renowned for its user-friendly streaming devices, it’s equally famous for its now-iconic cityscape screensaver. The next time your Roku device goes idle, you might notice that your favorite fictional city looks a little sharper.
Since it debuted in 2018, Roku City, the purple-tinted, animated cityscape has been in standard 720p HD. Now, not only is it getting upgraded to 1080p HD, it’s getting more lively — and it’s getting mass transit.
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In an email to users, Roku explained that in addition to the definition upgrade to make it look more crisp and vibrant, the fictional city will be “buzzing with even more activity, including new Easter Eggs and the launch of the Roku City train station.”
Roku also explained that billboards across the city are getting a new star button that lets you learn more about content — something called “Roku Zones” — and other features.
Roku offers several screensavers in its settings menu, including a clock, a gallery of 4K landscapes, a national parks series, a “Backdrops” theme that shows iconic artwork, and a space theme. But the most popular by far is Roku City.
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Over time, Roku City has become a fan favorite. The city has a bustling skyline with both real-life and movie-inspired buildings. You’ll see diners, mansions, a city hall, landscapes like volcanoes, bodies of water, and even vehicles traveling its roadways. The city updates to change with the seasons, show easter eggs from famous movies and run advertisements for current content.
The Roku City update began rolling out a few weeks ago, and should be widely available at this time.
This is just the latest in a series of upgrades Roku has introduced this year. A free 24/7 sports channel with live baseball, classic boxing, and sports talk debuted several months ago, and a weekly trivia game rolled out over the summer.
