Here’s a fun statistic: In 2020, more than half of American children under sixteen played Roblox, but many adults are still unaware of its existence.
But now, Roblox fever has spread throughout the entire world. Big media sites like CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal suddenly covered this Roblox event. March saw a sharp increase in Google searches for Roblox stock, and even well-known people, like Reese Witherspoon, were making jokes about it. Perhaps you’re unaware of the reason behind the widespread interest in Roblox in 2021.
I’m here to clarify everything, though.
What is Roblox?
Roblox is an online gaming platform and marketplace where users may purchase and play games. Roblox is not a game but a platform where individuals may play games created by other creators. In this regard, it is more like the PC platform Steam than any online children’s game.
What distinguishes Roblox from other gaming platforms, including storefronts such as Steam, is that its players create all of its games. The joy on Roblox comes not just from playing games but also from making them. Platform users rather than Roblox Corporation create these games. The official website claims its users have produced over 20 million matches on the platform.
Why is everyone talking about Roblox right now?
Because it is possible for anybody, even children, to earn a significant amount of money using the platform by monetizing their games, some creators have the potential to make as much as one million dollars in a single year.
Even though Roblox and all of its games are accessible for free, many children purchase and spend a virtual currency known as Robux for goods that are aesthetically pleasing inside Roblox games.
The creators of Roblox are entitled to a percentage of the money made from these transactions in the form of Robux. Once a developer has accumulated a sufficient amount of Robux,
they can exchange their Robux into actual money using software known as the Developer Exchange, commonly referred to as DevEx.
It’s not only individual creators making money from their work. The Roblox Corporation alone is considered worth a remarkable amount of money. Wednesday was the day Roblox Corporation became publicly traded, which means it began selling its shares to the general public.
With a reference price of $45 and a closing price of $69.50 a share, its stock ($RBLX) had a fantastic debut day, performing exceptionally well. A report from The Wall Street Journal states that the corporation ultimately had a market valuation of around $45 billion after the operation.
Epic Games, the company responsible for the ever-popular Fortnite and Unreal Engine software, was valued at $17.3 billion in the latter half of 2020. This is just to give you an idea of how enormous that is.
However, Epic Games is still a privately held corporation. The success of Roblox on the market, in conjunction with the fact that the Roblox economy is virtually exclusively operated by young people capable of making a significant amount of money, has piqued the interest of many individuals.
How popular are Roblox games?
Particularly well-liked in some instances. According to the producers of Adopt Me!, a pet simulation game offering children the opportunity to purchase and care for animals, the game reached over 1.6 million concurrent users in April 2020.
Additionally, the game has been visited by players more than 20.4 billion times. (The application developer has not made the numbers for the individual logins available to the general public.)
When this article was published, almost 420,000 individuals were playing another game called Brookhaven, which is presently the game with the most concurrent users.
Who makes Roblox games?
On Roblox, anybody may create their games. Young people can bring their gaming concepts to life via this platform. This is accomplished by offering a set of game production tools that are simple enough for practically anybody, even children, to learn how to use by themselves.
Roblox also makes it simple to transform your idea into an online multiplayer game, so these developers can grow their operations if a game becomes popular.
The games are written in a scripting language known as Lua, which is more straightforward to learn than most other computer languages. The firm enables developers to acquire new skills and fix problems via the use of forums that the company provides.
Creators don’t need to be concerned with practicalities such as how to set up servers while using Roblox; all they need to do is create the game, and then users may play their game via online multiplayer. Depending on the creator, the level of immersion in game design might vary considerably.
What does the average Roblox game look like?
There is no such thing as an “average Roblox game,” which is the most apparent response to this question. People can create whatever they wish on the platform known as Roblox.
Platformers with single-player and first-person shooters are only two examples of the many types of games available. The most popular games are often simulators.
These games allow players to act out various situations, such as going to school or a pizza shop.
Is Roblox free?
You may download the platform and its games for free. On the other hand, Roblox games may allow in-game purchases of skins, upgrades, and other accessories.
A youngster may purchase an egg that will hatch into a pet in the game Adopt Me!, where players adopt and care for pets. Because each game is distinct, in-game purchases will differ.
What’s the future of Roblox?
Roblox’s vibrant and whimsical realms have long been isolated from the rest of the gaming industry. After being limited to the specialized “children’s games market,” the firm has remained primarily unknown since its establishment in 2006.
The business has expanded over time and has supported the up-and-coming game creators who release their creations on the Roblox platform.
The business established a platform that has operated similarly to the parallel gaming industry. Roblox hosts conferences, hires its developers, and produces its games.
With the company’s present price, many platform makers are feeling upbeat. Now that the more significant business has gone public, several developers are already discussing purchasing their shares.
Red Manta, a Roblox company cofounded by Alex Hicks, told Polygon that he is thrilled about the IPO since it is “definitely bringing more attention to studios.”
“A lot of kids already know what Roblox is, but they’re just getting started with the older audience,” he said. Roblox has been expanding, and its developers will probably become more well-known.