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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

#501

Post by Quarrel »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #472
Quarrel wrote: post #259

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. 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).

> And who determines that reason?

the exact language of their T&Cs?

Not to be too flippant, but we can guess all we want, but the individual apps signed up to specific terms at the time, and you can almost guarantee that Apple (or anyone else) reserves a lot of leeway to themselves as to how they enforce or otherwise police those T&Cs.

All the conjecture in this bit of the thread seems a bit pointless given none of us are reading it, let alone reading the specific bit that whichever app in question might be held to.

Hence my start to it, as well, these seem to be allowed ...

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

#502

Post by spreiti »

ciropantera wrote: post #431
wmeredith wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a gamer and I always play the games my kids are playing to see what's up. Roblox was banned in my house after I messed around with it on my own for 30 minutes. Most of the games on the platform are pay to win skinner boxes and they have a pedophile problem. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-pro...

As a new father that will eventually get into that situation: how do you ban Roblox in your house? I imagine it’s popular among your kids’ real world acquaintances (school etc). Doesn’t banning it exclude your kids from these groups? Do they feel left out? Given the current state of gaming and where it’s heading I would love to ban gaming altogether but I feel social pressure from other kids makes it very hard.

Explain them the concepts of loot boxes and pay to win. My son, who was 8 at that time, understood quiet fast that these games don't require skill and are just trying to steal money from him. He doesn't like that and now avoids games that contain these dark patterns and has become quiet good at spotting them.

Also, buy a Nintendo console. It solves 99% of all problems. I haven't seen these dark patterns in any Nintendo title and personally I think it's the best gaming environment for kids.

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

#503

Post by isk517 »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #475
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.

>I don't understand how some kids can just get unfettered access to a credit card and spend hundreds on such stuff.

Easy.

Step 1: Find where your parents leaves their wallet lying around because they don't expect their child to attempt credit fraud.

Step 2: Punch in the numbers on the card into the appropriate boxes in the app because tech companies really don't have a interest in putting up any real barriers to prevent kids from spending money.

Step 3: Profit!

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

#504

Post by Shocka1 »

jajko wrote: post #445
ciropantera wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a new father that will eventually get into that situation: how do you ban Roblox in your house? I imagine it’s popular among your kids’ real world acquaintances (school etc). Doesn’t banning it exclude your kids from these groups? Do they feel left out? Given the current state of gaming and where it’s heading I would love to ban gaming altogether but I feel social pressure from other kids makes it very hard.

I go against the stream it seems, but even though I grew up gaming, I see it now as mostly wasted time. Any benefit that came with it is easily overshadowed with literally wasting the most precious thing we have - our time in this universe which could be spent having serious adventures (or anything else like finding/working on love and real friends(TM)). I've gotten into various sports mostly done in mountains and so…

I'm mostly in agreement with ya. I've always been big into the outdoors as it's what truly allows me to recharge. Fishing/hiking/hunting/mountainbiking, etc. All of it is good for the soul. As the kids have gotten older I've been able to get them out in the same activities. In my house 8/10 times we are outside doing outdoorsy stuff, while the other 20% is gaming.

The type/quality of the games definitely matters IMO. My six year old really enjoys DCS World and Kerbel Space program. Roblox is a total no go in my house, but I rarely deny my kid from wanting to land a jet or build a rocket.

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

#505

Post by samatman »

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…

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what an App Store policy is.

You're reasoning as though the policy is for Apple to follow. No. It's for developers to follow. Apple can put whatever it wants on the App Store, the policies are guidance for developers to give them a fighting chance that their apps will be accepted. If Apple wants an app, it'll go on the store. If they don't, it won't.

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

#506

Post by watwut »

ciropantera wrote: post #431
wmeredith wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a gamer and I always play the games my kids are playing to see what's up. Roblox was banned in my house after I messed around with it on my own for 30 minutes. Most of the games on the platform are pay to win skinner boxes and they have a pedophile problem. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-pro...

As a new father that will eventually get into that situation: how do you ban Roblox in your house? I imagine it’s popular among your kids’ real world acquaintances (school etc). Doesn’t banning it exclude your kids from these groups? Do they feel left out? Given the current state of gaming and where it’s heading I would love to ban gaming altogether but I feel social pressure from other kids makes it very hard.

My kids did not paid a cent nor did most of their friends. There are some paid a little, no more then the relatively normal amount of money. If someone 8 years old is paying a lot of money for Roblox while his friends prefer roblox because it is free, then the issue is provably solvable.

Beyond limiting infinite amount of paying by not giving the kid infinite amount of money, you can limit their time in the app or on tablet by rules like "max X hours per week".

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

#507

Post by crim1 »

simpaticoder wrote: post #310
itomato wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...is total crap" Why are people OK with this? Because there's a place to spend "money" inside this virtual space? The paradigm could be replaced with literally anything, yet the prevailing mode of "play" in these spaces is convert meatspace credits to in-game "virtual property"; costumes, weaponry, etc. These kids arent' making anything, they're aphids.

Nice reference to aphids (which are used like cows by ant colonies). So kids make games which require currency from other kids?! Why would they do that? Do they get a cut?

Yes. Like $105 for every ~43,000 robux (~$350-$490, depending on the tier of robux purchased) players spend in your game. Not including the money you get for free just by retaining players with a Roblox subscription in your game.

Top Roblox devs are making millions of dollars. [0]

[0] https://okmagazine.com/p/teen-ceo-brandon-millionaire-throug...

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

#509

Post by watwut »

iainmerrick wrote: post #191
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.

It's fashion. It's the same phenomenon as kids wanting to spend $100 to get the coolest shoes (in the real world).

I do not know why this is downvoted. The principle is the same. Likewise fidget spinner, likewise trading cards, likewise bag with star wars picture, likewise whatever plastic piece of crap is being sold to kids currently.

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

#510

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

devsda wrote: post #84
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #26

I can't recall the exact company name (Edit: it was TCI), but this was a smart accounting move that made one of the big US telcos frogleap the competition in the race for connectivity. Basically, the company invested sufficient into long term assets, big infra investments like cabling, towers, etc. Because of accounting rules, they could choose to amortize all of that investment in a straight line over 30 years, OR a…

I think Amazon also had a similar strategy. They had lot of profit-less years of growth and they have captured a big part of the market share.

I had one of my wife's relatives in 2013 tell me "I'd never buy Amazon stock. They've been in business for 15 years and still are not profitable!" I tried to explain that it's because every dollar of potential profit was funneled back into R&D and company expansion, and that revenue has been growing steadily, but he just didn't get it.

If he'd bought stock then, he'd have ~10x'd his money in that time, whereas the S&P500 has ~3x'd.

I would have bought stock myself back then, but I was a broke college student.

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