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Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

matthewball.co

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Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#251

Post by ffgjgf1 »

surgical_fire wrote: post #244
ffgjgf1 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it is for most developers on Steam. Small/medium developers of course benefit much more from the increased reach/discoverability and PC games have a very different business model than mobile ones of course. But even for iAP, yes 30% is very step but as a consumer I’m significantly more likely to spend money on an app published by a non-major company if I can use Apple as an intermediary (refunds, subscription ma…

> But even for iAP, yes 30% is very step but as a consumer I’m significantly more likely to spend money on an app published by a non-major company if I can use Apple as an intermediary Such an odd take. I begrudgingly use a Macbook for work - that is the laptop my employer issued for me. I pay for IntelliJ, because I think it is an excellent IDE. Following your logic, Apple should somehow bite 30% of that yearly subs…

> Following your logic, Apple should somehow bite 30% of that yearly subscription, when in truth, I am a customer of JetBrains, not of Apple.

No, that’s not even remotely close to what I said or implied.

> In the Steam case, especially for small/medium developers, there are multiple options to buy their games - I generally prefer GoG.

Yes. The overwhelming majority still use Steam due to various rational reasons.

> Your logic would be fine if, and only if, there was the option to buy the game outside of the AppStore,

I never said that I think that Apple should have a monopoly on app distribution on their platform.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#253

Post by theshrike79 »

drexlspivey wrote: post #200
thomas34298 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the same argument could be made for Twitter/X. The app stores by Google and Apple specifically disallow pornographic material, yet the app is full of it. Once you're big and important enough, the rules mostly don't apply for you anymore. Of course, if they tried to circumvent the app store tax directly within the app, there would be consequences, but as long as Google/Apple can make a profit, it's okay it see…

Can an aggregator/distributor be liable for user created content? You can find porn in Reddit or Google Search and these apps are still in the app store so I don’t think they are getting any special treatment.

Even Tapatalk had to filter out "adult" forums - and it's just a client to connect to 3rd party forums.

On Twitter you can find actual porn straight up.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#254

Post by theshrike79 »

Gigachad wrote: post #190
amitlevy49 wrote: post #2

reminds me of the path Minecraft could have taken - they also had a massive amount of community developers building servers, but instead of encouraging monetization and taking a cut, they banned it and cracked down aggressively Of course, unlike Roblox, Minecraft was profitable

What is the Minecraft online experience like these days? I only ever hear about people playing self hosted servers with friends. Are there still big servers with unique game modes kicking? Seems like it would be hard to keep sustainable

There are "Realms" that are essentially MS/Mojang hosted massive servers.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#255

Post by skerit »

Gigachad wrote: post #190
amitlevy49 wrote: post #2

reminds me of the path Minecraft could have taken - they also had a massive amount of community developers building servers, but instead of encouraging monetization and taking a cut, they banned it and cracked down aggressively Of course, unlike Roblox, Minecraft was profitable

What is the Minecraft online experience like these days? I only ever hear about people playing self hosted servers with friends. Are there still big servers with unique game modes kicking? Seems like it would be hard to keep sustainable

I've been running my own (not-for-profit, for people over the age of 21) server for the past 5 years. We're basically just a Vanilla+ server, we have no problems finding new people to join (thanks to /r/MinecraftBuddies)

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#256

Post by beart »

shkkmo wrote: post #232

Roblox is a destable scummy company that depends on the exploitation of children to make money. They took the exploitative practices of microtransaction based games, targeted them at children, then decided to use child labor to create content inside an expoitatively taxed monetization system, then decided to abdicate all their responsibility for responsible community management to protect these children by shutting d…

Agreed. And it goes beyond jaded monetization. A popular player and predator was only recently arrested after initiating physical contact with one of the child laborers. The game is simply not a safe environment for children.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#257

Post by actualwitch »

ffgjgf1 wrote: post #231
actualwitch wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> valve does contribute to gaming on Linux They only do it because they are painfully aware their rent-seeking behavior is entirely at whims of ms/apple and they want to have some moat.

What do you mean by “only”? You can really expect companies to behave irrationally. Pretty much every company funding Linux development do it because they expect this to benefit them somehow.

"I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality." - Gabe Newell

https://www.neowin.net/news/valve-co-founder-windows-8-is-a-...

Take a wild guess when they started pushing steam on linux, and which version of windows introduced a store.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#258

Post by massysett »

ElCapitanMarkla wrote: post #88

My kids have started playing Roblox recently and they have started asking for some Robux so they can buy crap... I really don't get how so many people are into spending dollars on this stuff. Everything they wanted was ~$10-20 NZD and it was just throw away stuff, like a costume, etc. And then it's only useful in that one game you have brought it for. It blows my mind that it ever got this popular.

I got my 8-year-old going on Roblox because she asked for it. I had no idea what is really involved with it and as I watched her play it, it all seemed to me to be a big scam.

She would play games and want Robux. So she would go on her iPad and download iPad games that pay out Robux. The iPad games are total junk that only pay Robux after my kid watches ads. Some of those ads are for crappy games that pay Robux. Repeat the cycle.

I was appalled by the whole thing and deleted Roblox. She has gone back to Minecraft and does not seem to miss Roblox.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#259

Post by Quarrel »

thomas34298 wrote: post #181
modeless wrote: post #17

The bigger question about Roblox is how and why they got their special treatment from Apple. The whole concept of Roblox is in blatant violation of Apple's App Store policies. I believe they are significantly shielded from competition because who else can get that kind of ongoing and reliable relief from Apple's famously picky and capricious App Store reviewers? Maybe Roblox is happy to pay Apple their 30% in exchang…

I think the same argument could be made for Twitter/X. The app stores by Google and Apple specifically disallow pornographic material, yet the app is full of it. Once you're big and important enough, the rules mostly don't apply for you anymore. Of course, if they tried to circumvent the app store tax directly within the app, there would be consequences, but as long as Google/Apple can make a profit, it's okay it see…

> I think the same argument could be made for Twitter/X. The app stores by Google and Apple specifically disallow pornographic material, yet the app is full of it.

Reddit is allowed too. imgur, snap, etc.

I assumed you're fine as long as your raison d'être wasn't porn and the content was user generated / supplied.

Re: Roblox is the biggest game in the world, but is unprofitable

#260

Post by fifticon »

jack_pp wrote: post #121
jack_pp wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because kids aren't utilitarian. They want shiny things impulsively now in whatever niche game they are playing at the moment. Or want to keep up with their friends who got cool stuff to keep status. Doesn't matter to them that they'll switch games in a week and lose everything.

To add to this, for them money is like ice cream, comes from parents rarely and gives them temporary pleasure. That's why I think it is good to pay your kids for chores or good grades so that they start learning financial responsibility early. Sure they'll blow their money on useless stuff at first but then they'll have none for some other thing they wish they had money for and will learn to choose more wisely in the…

I concur with this. Our kid can earn robux doing chores, and she only earns them once in a while. It often leads her to a period of deliberation, where at first she's like 'I so much need this, I must do whatever chores it will take!'. Then gradually as the minutes go by, she gets doubts, and at some point flips into "No. Way. THAT is NOT worth THAT MUCH WORK!" Whenever this happens, I get sort of proud or satisfied. A lot of times it doesn't happen, she does the chore and gets the reward. But other times, especially for costly idiosyncratic choices, she comes to her senses.

The insane spending sprees/binges shrink a lot, when they are expressed in "how much vacuuming and floor washing am I willing to endure?"

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