What is Roblox and why are all the kids talking about it?

Have you heard of Roblox? Over half of children in the U.S. under the age of 16 played Roblox in 2020, but many people still don't know what Roblox really is. Major media portals such as The Wall, The Street Journal, The New York Times and CNN suddenly began writing about him. But despite the hype, you may not know why Roblox became so popular in 2021. In this article we will clarify this

What is Roblox?

Roblox is an online platform where people come to play games. Kind of like a virtual showcase and a game store. Roblox itself is not a game, but a place where people can come to play games from other developers. In a sense Roblox is more like Steam than a classic game. What makes Roblox unique and unlike anything in the gaming industry is the fact that the games in Roblox are made by its users (also called developers). So, on Roblox, in addition to having fun through playing games, you can just as much fun doing games. Currently, roblox's official site claims that its users have made more than 20 million games on the platform.

Why is Roblox so popular?

It is precisely because all users, including children, can earn a bunch of money on the platform. Some developers can earn up to 1 million a year monetizing their games. Although Roblox and all the games in it are free, users can buy robux virtual currency and spend it on various aesthetic accessories in games. In doing so, part of the money goes to Roblox developers, who receive the money in the form of Robux. Once developers have collected enough Robux, they can use Developer Exchange (also called DevEx) to convert Robuxe into real money.

And it's not just standalone creators who can make money. Roblox Corporation itself is worth surprisingly much. The corporation has recently become public and the shares are available on the New York Stock Exchange. The company generated market profits of roughly $45 billion, according to data from the Wall Street Journal. By comparison, the value of Epic Games, the creators of the hugely popular Fortnite and Unreal Engine software game, was estimated at $17.3 billion in late 2020. Epic Games is still a private company. Roblox's success in the market, coupled with the fact that roblox's economy itself is entirely driven by young people who are able to make a large sum of money, is very intriguing.

Who can make Roblox games?

Anyone can do games on Roblox. The platform gives young people the opportunity to bring their game ideas to life. It does this by giving users a set of tools to develop games that almost anyone can learn to use, even children. If the game becomes popular enough, it is possible for developers to increase the volume of the game, since using Roblox it is very easy to turn the game into an online multiplayer game.

For programming games, the Lua programming language is used, which is easier to learn than most other programming languages. Roblox also provides developers with a forum where they can ask for help with solving problems and where they can learn new programming skills. With Roblox, developers don't have to worry about logistical issues like server setup; simply make a game that other players can play in online multiplayer mode. The depth to which a game can develop depends solely on the developer.

What do the games look like on Roblox? How many people play Roblox?

The simplest answer to this question is that there is no "average Roblox game." Roblox is a platform where users can create whatever they want. The variety of games that can be played is huge; from singleplayer platformer of first-person shooter – the amount of games is extremely large. The most popular category of games is simulations in which players can go through different scenarios, such as going to school or a pizzeria. Adopt Me!, a pet simulation in which users can buy and care for animals, counted more than 1.6 million players in April 2020. Developers say it has been visited more than 20.4 billion times in total. Another example is brookhaven, which currently has the most simultaneous players, with over 420,000 people playing it at the time it was released.

Roblox and all the games on it are completely free and available for download. But within the games can be offered various transactions, most of all various aesthetic accessories, but also other upgrades. For example, in Adopt Me!, players take care of their pet and it is possible to buy an egg from which the pet will hatch. Since each game is unique, transactions within games vary from game to game.

What is the future of Roblox?

The colorful and moody world of Roblox has long been largely isolated from the gaming industry. Underestimated for its "childishness" and for the belief that Roblox is aimed at children, the company has remained relatively unnoticed since its founding in 2006. Over time, the company grew, supporting young developers who were doing their games at Roblox. In doing so, the company has created a platform that has become a parallel to the gaming industry. Roblox has its own games, its developers and its conferences.

Currently, the very assessment of the future of the platform seems very optimistic. Some of the developers are considering buying their own shares now that the company has become public. Alex Hicks, co-founder of Roblox studio s pell Red Manta, said he was excited about the company's transition to the public domain because of the increased attention it brought to the study. He also said that a lot of children know what Roblox is, but that the surface is just scratched as far as older players and users are concerned. Roblox has been growing slowly for some time and it is almost certain that it will attract even more attention in the future.