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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

#471

Post by ecshafer »

erehweb wrote: post #345
rvba wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's total compensation? Doea this mean 700k base salary (real cash) + bonus (stock options)? On a side note, do senior engineers get company cars?

Total compensation means $700K, some of it being cash, some of it being stock. Company cars are pretty rare in the US, since basically everyone has a car already.

Company cars are really common in some industries, very rare in others. Ive never heard of it in tech, but I know people in sales that its just part of the gig.

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

#472

Post by johnnyanmac »

Quarrel wrote: post #259
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 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.

And who determines that reason? Twitter seems to work fine with no restrictions but Discord basically has to lock down any server marked as 18+

(regardless of the content of 18+. Don't know how mobile has had 15 years to do granular content warnings based on decades of other medium but app stores still assume 18+ = porn).

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

#473

Post by ProfessorLayton »

modeless wrote: post #457
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they actually did get banned from the App Store at one point, but successfully appealed. Here's a key part of this: Executives also have kids and they want to play Roblox on the go!

Yes, favoritism by Apple execs is the most plausible explanation to me. I wonder if Phil Schiller owns any RBLX shares...

All this happened when Roblox was private, I don't believe there was/is any monetary interest beyond whatever executives had from their employers. If it's anything like the story for getting Roblox on game consoles, then it really is executives caring about what their kids also care about, and that gives RBLX a huge leg up.

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

#474

Post by johnnyanmac »

niemandhier wrote: post #366

I bought my son a ps5, Hogwarts Legacy and told him Roblox is never going to be on any device we own or in any network I control. In addition to being mostly pay-to-win the platform has a pedophile problem. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-pro...

I know roblox is the most popular target. But really, any network enabled platform with a large base of children will have a grooming problem.

I was surprised reading the article that Roblox already spends 28% of revenue on Safety and Trust. Maybe Roblox is just that gigantic a platform to where that's still not sufficient.

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

#475

Post by johnnyanmac »

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.

Thats just being a kid. Their $10 digital costume was some $5 cheap batman figure some 30 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the skin lasted longer.

Of course the key here is that kids don't always get what they want when asked. I don't understand how some kids can just get unfettered access to a credit card and spend hundreds on such stuff.

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

#476

Post by modeless »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #473
modeless wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, favoritism by Apple execs is the most plausible explanation to me. I wonder if Phil Schiller owns any RBLX shares...

All this happened when Roblox was private, I don't believe there was/is any monetary interest beyond whatever executives had from their employers. If it's anything like the story for getting Roblox on game consoles, then it really is executives caring about what their kids also care about, and that gives RBLX a huge leg up.

You may be right, but Apple execs are accredited investors worth tens to hundreds of millions and as such are easily able to invest in private companies, so that doesn't rule it out. Nepotism is another possible explanation if there are any connections there. And while it wouldn't be illegal while they were private, it would still be immoral, and it would become illegal when not disclosed as a risk at IPO.

It could also further jeopardize Apple's standing with regulators, since they profess to apply their rules fairly and equally without secret deals (which is transparently ridiculous but Tim Cook said it in congressional testimony so it would be perjury if proven wrong).

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

#477

Post by mmmlinux »

massysett wrote: post #258
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. Repe…

This is an interesting new level in the system I had not heard of before.

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

#478

Post by johnnyanmac »

jack_pp wrote: post #278
drw85 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not only kids that buy these. I know a lot of 40+ year old men that buy skins and useless junk in video games all the time. They spend a ton of money on cosmetic junk in short lived video games. It's puzzling to me, but i see it all the time.

Maybe if you earn 10k+ monthly and play a free game you don't mind buying shiny things for 50-100$ monthly

Yeah, I'll admit I have and Probbaly will "whale" in my share of mobile games. Though "whaling" amounts can vary vastly on the perception (I'm not throwing down $1000 every time a new character releases. But I do spend triple digits a month).

Key is proper financial management. If I make $10000 post tax (which isnt an impressive figure for a community like this), put 15% in savings, 30% in rent/utilities, and 5% into food, I still have $5000 left. Spending $500 on games won't really phase me.

I 100% agree this isn't something kids would do and balance, though. And I recognize others have addictions and much worse financial planning.

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

#479

Post by darknavi »

modeless wrote: post #373
darknavi wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft Bedrock (iOS and all mobile/console versions) do support assets and executable code as well. They are called "Behavior Packs": https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/minecraft/creator/document...

Seems like they use JavaScript and this might qualify for the HTML5/JavaScript exception that Apple has. Also it seems like they are a lot less powerful than Roblox scripts, and there isn't an in-game store allowing you to purchase them without using Apple's in-app purchase flow.

For transparency I lead the Minecraft Scripting team.

You can purchase content that runs behavior packs from the store, but it's all through soft currency purchased with per-platform stores.

Link to some of the content: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/catalog

As for the "not as powerful as Roblox", we're working on it :)

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

#480

Post by dgb23 »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #234
dgb23 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not kids or Roblox specifically, it's gamers and platforms/games with "micro-transactions" etc. When I was younger and still played online games regularly, I was initially stoked about cosmetic micro-transactions in (competitive) online games. Not because I wanted to buy them, but because these would fund the continuous development of my favorite games without affecting their integrity (no "pay to win" mechanism…

Even if you specifically insist on Lua for some reason, there are probably way less predatory options, like Factorio.

I don’t care about Lua specifically nor Roblox.

And yes, Factorio is great.

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