alt Hacker NewsRoblox is minting teen millionaires
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I come from the Minecraft modding/server community. There is interesting fact that I like to tell people about the sheer size of Roblox compared to other communities like Minecraft.
The largest Minecraft server in the world is Hypixel at around ~30K concurrent players. Most other servers are very far behind.
There is one Roblox game that looks and plays like Minecraft and copied one single gamemode (Bedwars) common in servers like Hypixel. It had 60K+ concurrent players last time I checked late last year.
There are almost definitely more people playing BedWars on Roblox than there are playing it on Minecraft at this very moment.
Roblox is slot machines for kids
Games are filled with loot boxes that drop exquisite items on chance. It's a repeated cycle of charging robux only to spend on another slot machine.
US regulation is far behind protecting children from such scheme. Japan disallows many forms of such loot boxes due to addictive nature.
My grandsons would come and stay, bringing tablet devices with them, and would prefer to stay glued to them the whole time.
Since we banned their use, they now play outside with my other grandchildren, on the rope swing, the zip line, or exploring in the woods making dens and forts, using their imaginations.
Children should not be playing computer games, or scrolling on any social media, IMO.
"According to the company, their monthly player base includes half of all American children under the age of 16." - Wikipedia
2 decades in the making, they are really hitting their stride. But they are not doing enough to protect children from predators and that's a huge legal and regulatory risk.
Reminds me of when kids were doing the same on MySpace
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20070917/SUB/709170352...
I admittedly harbor a bunch of resentment towards Roblox for the predatory way they have encircled my childrens' friends, and my children as well, so take my feelings with a grain of salt.
I didn't get far in this article.
It feels like the modern equivalent of "there is a kid named LeBron James who is only 19 and will be make millions in the NBA." Roblox Millionaires might be true, but feels like an anomaly, and in this case, causes serious harm IMHO. Lebron James actually has used his wealth and prominence to make a difference in the world, and if he encouraged kids to get active, it feels like on balance a good thing.
I just don't see a good/happy career path for anyone becoming a Roblox Millionaire no matter whether it is true for even one person. Maybe it isn't the point, but if it isn't, why even celebrate it?
My youngest has played Roblox half her life, but is very angry about recent decisions like requiring ID to chat in-game.
Still, if she's anything like other players, she's spent countless hours playing some of the most mindless Roblox games, and we've spent a few $100 on Robux gift cards over the years.
even tiny roblox games make money. i developed for a small game (~10m plays) a few years back and i still earn a decent residual from player revenue, even as the game slowly loses traction
>Founded in 2004, Roblox paid out $1.5 billion to game creators last year. On average, the top 1,000 developers — individuals or companies — earned $1.3 million, according to the company.
So 87% of payouts go to the top 1000 developers.
> Today, at 19, he’s collecting $400,000 a month for his creation... In the next 10 years, Colley’s goal is to earn enough to go back to making Roblox games as a hobby.
Lol if he waits like half a year he should have plenty enough to go make games as a hobby.
It's one of those things, you hear about it (Starter story) and think "I should start churning out games too" but gotta be in it/have drive/creativity too. I personally haven't been playing games for a while (I have a gaming rig).
Also have to keep up with trends that kids are into
Would be interesting to look at the numbers eg. how many games are created, percentage who gets paid. Like steam releases with free game assets
I remember how hard I had to lobby to get my parents to agree to ~$12 a month (that I paid for with 2 weeks of my allowance) for EverQuest.
Seems possible that MMO's will have a resurgence once the Roblox generation comes of age.
The traditional Bloomberg money worship.
> But the platform’s more successful game makers say they don’t have complaints.
Imagine being a journalist and just accepting this and ending a paragraph with it.
> “In Amsterdam we did get a VIP table at a club overlooking everyone,” Zirschky says. “But we always make sure to try McDonald’s in every country.”
Blind consumerism making up for a lost childhood? Yikes, even for Bloomberg.
Archive.ph made me solve 5 captchas before I gave up. VPN isn't even on. Anybody got a different link?
This is so far out of the realm of what I do with computers that I'm not even really sure what Roblox is. I guess sort of a virtual game world? Seems crazy that there's so much money in it.
> The travel offers him a fresh perspective. It shows him that his work “isn’t that big a deal. It’s not the end of the world because ultimately there’s people walking down the streets of Sydney right now who don’t care about my Roblox game performing 50% worse.” > Colley has indulged, just a little. Last year, after the Roblox developer conference, he took a private jet to Las Vegas with some friends. Did he place any bets? “I’m not old enough,” he says, “but I had people gambling next to me.”
Honestly it's encouraging to hear that some teenage millionaires have some very reasonable views, it certainly goes against the stereotype of young wealth. I hope these aren't the exceptions that prove the rule.
Do you know that in roblox you go into games and you just walk over something and it prompts you to buy stuff to "beat the game" or "level up". It's an exploitative "game" that targets kids.
What a boring civilization
I mean, I don't understand why those young teens can spend that MUCH money on it, does their parents allow this virtual spending thing?
"In the next 10 years, Colley’s goal is to earn enough to go back to making Roblox games as a hobby."
Kid is making $400k PER MONTH...and he wants to do this for 10 YEARS before he is comfortable retiring. Apparently his FIRE number is $40M.
Everyone's threshold is different and personal. But I think it can reflect a level of anxiety about the cost of living. You aren't OK having $1M or even $10M - you need something far beyond before you feel OK to quit. It's not his fault, more of something the young generations are facing as their parents struggle with the relentless cost of living vs stagnated wages for most except the "laptop class".
Another FOMO article. Bloomberg may as well start reporting on lottery winners.
Ugh, they're just gonna blow it all on e-bikes for them and their crew and broccoli hair maintenance product
The U.S. has no economy, it is a joke. I cannot believe this BS counts into our GDP.
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Roblox turns a blind eye to child exploitation (whether being creeped on by adults, or being exploited by teens/adults to make games) and makes a fortune out of it. If it weren't online, it'd be illegal and people would be in jail.
Also, Roblox's favourite thing - other than sitting back and rolling in the cash that their playerbase generated for them - is puff pieces in the news talking about how people who make games for them strike it rich!!!! They don't mention that to do so, you first have to become popular amongst millions of competing titles, and the easiest way to do it is to pay them so they'll advertise it for you.
Oh, and the company scrip - Robux - has very, very different exchange rates, depending on whether you want to buy Robux from the company, or you want to get a payout and convert your Robux to real money. They pay a lot less than it costs to buy Robux, further incentivising you to never actually make real money, because your Robux is "worth more" inside the Roblox walled garden. This is on top of the 75% cut they take!
In all, approximately 17% of the real-world money paid into Roblox is paid back out to creators. What a scam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY