As of 2020, Roblox reported that more than 2 million developers used Roblox Studio to create more than 20 million games per year. As with games, avatar items on Roblox are mainly user-generated, though most items on the platform were made by Roblox themselves for most of the platform’s history. Robux can be used to purchase virtual items that the player can use on their virtual character (or “avatar”) on the platform, or access experiences that require payment. By 2020, over 5,000 games on Roblox had been played over a million times, and over 20 had been played over one billion times. Several individual games on Roblox have accumulated revenues of over $10 million, while developers as a whole on the platform were collectively projected to have earned around $250 million over the course of 2020.
Play, Create, and Connect
Some items on Roblox have a “limited” status, with only a few being available and the price of the item based on supply and demand rather than a fixed price. It has also been criticized for its alleged exploitative practices toward children and microtransactions. Although critic reviews for Roblox have been positive, it has faced heavy criticism for its content moderation, due to the large amount of sexual or politically extremist material on the platform. The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports.
Additionally, in 2019, Roblox released Roblox Premium, which replaced its previous Builders Club memberships. That same year, Roblox discontinued its official player forums for an undisclosed reason. In April 2016, Roblox became available for Oculus Rift, alongside a variety of quality-of-life features made specifically for that platform. The platform’s growth was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, where lockdowns led tens of millions of children to use Roblox as a means of communication. This also came with a feature called Smooth Terrain, which increased the graphic fidelity of in-game terrain.
- In mid-2006, the first two employees that were not Cassel or Baszucki were hired to work on the platform’s other features.
- Additionally, users with an active Roblox Premium subscription are able to trade limiteds amongst each other.
- Roblox’s business model has also been criticized, with the platform being accused of featuring exploitative practices that target children; Professor Jane Juffer at Cornell University accused Roblox of encouraging consumerism in children.
- During this time in 2007, Roblox introduced the “Builders Club” membership subscription, which allowed for users to create more games under their account, sell virtual clothing, remove outside advertisements from the site and gain Robux daily.
- Furthermore, the platform hosts a large virtual economy centered around those items and Robux.
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They also advertised Roblox on some websites, leading to a few dozen players joining the platform as playtesters. Baszucki and Cassel began development on Roblox shortly afterwards, modeled after Baszucki’s vision, and also created the Roblox Corporation. Roblox was created in 2004 by co-founders and software engineers David Baszucki and Erik Cassel. Players are able to add other users as friends (officially known as “connections” since 2025). Avatar item creators have also been able to generate profit with the platform, with some individuals designing items as a full-time job.
Accessibility
They also criticized the platform’s virtual economy, comparing the limited collectibles market to gambling. Some found that the platform made it very easy to purchase microtransactions, leading to numerous instances where children have spent large sums of money on the platform without parents’ knowledge. Roblox’s business model has also been criticized, with the platform being accused of featuring exploitative practices that target children; Professor Jane Juffer at Cornell University accused Roblox of encouraging consumerism in children.
A sizeable amount of scams are on Roblox, largely revolving around messages promoting websites and games that are designed to appear to give out free Robux. Developers on the platform are able to create purchasable content through one-time purchases. While Roblox is free-to-play, it features a virtual currency known as “Robux” that can be purchased with real-world money. The games featured on Roblox vary in genre, from role-playing games to ones centered around escaping prison, among others. The platform has also been used to host virtual concerts and events, as well as advergames. As of February 2025, the platform has reported an average of 85.3 million daily active users.
To assist in the creation of games, Roblox Studio features multiple pre-made templates that users can modify. Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system built around user-generated content and games, officially referred to as “experiences”. According to the company, their monthly player base includes half of all American children under the age of 16. The Netherlands and Belgium have restricted certain games on the platform due to their regulations on in-game “lootboxes”, which give out items based on random or unknown chances, to reduce children’s exposure to gambling. The platform has also seen numerous reports of sexual predation on child players, which a 2024 Bloomberg Businessweek report attributed to insufficient moderation, which has been viewed as overly reliant on artificial intelligence, and also due to how users on the platform are anonymous.
- As part of these plans, several other features were announced that would allow creators more freedom in their works, hoping to make them more “immersive” and making collaboration between developers easier.
- At the same time, a port of Roblox to the PlayStation 4 were announced, and later released on October 10.
- While the age estimation features can result in inaccurate age group assignment, the user can provide their ID to correct their age manually.
- Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system built around user-generated content and games, officially referred to as “experiences”.
- Several individual games on Roblox have accumulated revenues of over $10 million, while developers as a whole on the platform were collectively projected to have earned around $250 million over the course of 2020.
- While Roblox is free-to-play, it features in-game purchases done through its virtual currency known as “Robux”, and game developers on the platform are able to create items that cost Robux.
- Throughout 2021, Roblox averaged 45.5 million daily active users, a 40% increase from the end of 2020.
Events
This version initially only released with selection of 15 games chosen by Roblox staff, due to concerns regarding Entertainment Software Rating Board standards. One of the most successful creators on the platform at the time was Luke Weber, known on Roblox as “Stickmasterluke”, who had a following of over ten million plays across all of his games combined. By this point in the platform’s history, several games had been played million of times. Games that were made by the community early in the platform’s history included paintball games, haunted houses and model trains that players could ride. It was determined early on in development that the two would design Roblox to rely entirely on user-generated content, only providing the tools necessary for people to develop games, as well as the server hosting later in development. Games on Roblox greatly range in genre, and the content of these games effects its age rating.
These early versions of Roblox were extremely basic, with player avatars having not been animated yet and various features only being present in their most simplified form. While the age estimation features can result in inaccurate age group assignment, the user can provide their ID to correct their age manually. For example, a user who is spinnaus login twelve years old can only communicate with users aged 9 to 15. Communication is further restricted to only allow users in similar age groups to communicate with each other. If one of the users is over the age of 18 while the other user is between 13 and 17, then both parties must prove that they know each other in real life. An additional ‘tier’ of this system, known as “Trusted Connections”, allows users to send unfiltered chat messages and personal information to each other.
After the original supply of that item runs out, players can resell them for a higher price. Since 2019, select users have gained the ability to publish avatar accessories, animations, bundles and more. The platform is made to appeal to a family-friendly audience, and has been described as a massively multiplayer online game (MMO). While Roblox started off small—both in playerbase and as a company—it began to grow rapidly in the second half of the 2010s.
He also discussed the Ready Player One and Ready Player Two books as being inspirations for the company’s ideas. Roblox’s business model throughout this time has continued to be based around creating a metaverse, and attempting to increase the platform’s appeal. In January 2022, LuoBu was shut down, with Roblox stating that they were going to redevelop the release, and that LuoBu was only ever intended to be a test version. The growth of Roblox, both as a platform and as a company, continued into 2021 and the following years.
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Investigative journalism YouTube channel People Make Games accused the platform of “exploiting” younger game developers by promising them large amounts of money from creating games, only to apply high revenue cuts and leaving creators with little to no income. However, these restrictions did not apply to advergames, leading to further criticism by Truth in Advertising and children’s digital rights organization 5Rights. As a response, Roblox hid advertisements from users under the age of 13 starting in March 2023.
The 2020 edition of the Bloxy Awards, held virtually on the platform, drew 600,000 viewers. The sound was originally produced for the video game Messiah (2000), and it was replaced in 2022 after Roblox and the sound’s producer entered a copyright dispute. Starting with certain countries in December 2025 and globally in January 2026, Roblox made age verification mandatory to communicate on the platform in any capacity. These tools were for automatic avatar customization and texture generation, the former being able to automatically convert three-dimensional body meshes into live-animated avatars and the latter creating textures of objects based on a text-to-image model. In March 2024, two generative artificial intelligence tools that were added to Roblox Studio in an effort to speed up content creation.