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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

#261

Post by XlA5vEKsMISoIln »

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.

Didn't work out for Organic Maps. Merely allowing to access map data makes you un-family-friendly. Or at least that's what we can assume, since Google won't indulge in specifics. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41272925

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

#262

Post by diatone »

justinclift wrote: post #126
diatone wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples to oranges. Card networks have more than three stakeholders to work with per transaction, apply fees indiscriminately from milk to digital music subscriptions, and operate at truly staggering volumes.

You're right. Visa and Mastercard seem to do a lot more, yet charge a very small fraction of the amount.

My point, which hasn’t really been addressed, is that “more” isn’t a meaningful term when comparing card networks and software app stores, because the markets are structurally different.

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

#263

Post by kevindamm »

hoseja wrote: post #212
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…

I don't think I've ever actually seen any porn on eXtwitter. (Well, on main.) Why was a perfectly fine Unicode Blackboard X filtered out of my post.

HN strips out emoji and other non-language characters, may be related to that

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

#264

Post by jjmarr »

bentcorner wrote: post #25

In my (non-finance, parent of a roblox-player) opinion, the problem that Roblox has is that every single roblox game has a "roblox" essence. Every roblox game is undeniably roblox, and to broaden their market and attract higher-paying users, I think they need to fix that. There's a certain amount of jank in every roblox game, and that's part of the charm. But it's undoubtedly also a reason why people with fatter wall…

I've been getting randomly flung by the terrain in Roblox since 2008.

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

#265

Post by diatone »

vlovich123 wrote: post #144
justinclift wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. Visa and Mastercard seem to do a lot more, yet charge a very small fraction of the amount.

Yet Canada has Interac and India has UPI which nationalize all digital transactions while charging even less. In Europe they’re much more heavily regulated and this charge even less than in the States. So if within their own industry Visa and Mastercard overcharge like crazy, especially when they can, what makes you so sure that they’re a good counter example for a completely different industry? Especially when compe…

Exactly right. I’m not against competitor analysis here. But let’s at least compare against a basket of structurally similar offerings instead of cherry picking companies whose rake happens to be an order of magnitude lower in percentage terms.

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

#266

Post by yu3zhou4 »

tasoeur wrote: post #131
modeless wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or write data outside the designated container area, nor may they download, install, or execute code which introduces or changes features or functionality of the app, including other apps. Roblox is in clear violation of this clause, downloading and executing entire games written in Lua. Apple does have an exception to this policy for HTML5 games and…

It’s a gray area. If you look at apps like Snapchat, instagram and TikTok, they all have this concept of filters/lens/effect which are effectively One app effectively violating that policy is WeChat with their mini programs, but they get away with it due to the fact that iOS without WeChat would be doa in China.

What’s doa?

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

#267

Post by elif »

I'm sure it makes sense to people smarter than me but I just don't get building a software business with The best times I've had at startups were when we were lean, and profiting >50%. The business was easier, we had more flexibility for decisions, morale was great... But then they all seem to grow into 0-10% profit corporate behemoths where each employee can't even tell if the job they do is worth their paycheck, it just becomes awkward, slow, uninspiring work.

And then you find yourself robbing more single parents checking accounts than anyone on earth, but not even profiting. How depressing.

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

#268

Post by gruez »

MeanwInAsia wrote: post #203
J_cst wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some time ago I read an article explaining that initially games used to sell upgrades which were making the player stronger in multi-player games. The net result was that the games were loosing players because that mechanic was seen as unfair (pay to win). So they switched to aesthetics enhancements only and that resulted the correct strategy to have in game sales and not loosing players. Unfortunately cannot remembe…

Meanwhile, Chinese and Korean kids widely DEMAND pay to win, and see people who complain about Pay2Win as "Losers in life", because, to them, it's just two valid paths, and if someone pays to win at a game, then it's just a mark of status. Btw, did you also know that parents in central china have protested over the right to cheat? Tons of really great stuff in eastern work culture that I miss now back in europe. But…

>Btw, did you also know that parents in central china have protested over the right to cheat?

Source?

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

#269

Post by dloranc »

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…

> 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.

Have you ever read "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn? He states that rewarding for the things you mentioned inhibits the desired behavior in the long run.

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

#270

Post by kwertyoowiyop »

yu3zhou4 wrote: post #266
tasoeur wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a gray area. If you look at apps like Snapchat, instagram and TikTok, they all have this concept of filters/lens/effect which are effectively One app effectively violating that policy is WeChat with their mini programs, but they get away with it due to the fact that iOS without WeChat would be doa in China.

What’s doa?

Dead On Arrival
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