Roblox's dark side, the most popular game between children and adolescents
Video game
It has more than 200 million players and its bag value duplicates that of Fortnite creators
The platform has been accused of "exploiting" its young creators
Marc Brugat
Roblox is one of the most popular video games in the world, especially among boys and girls from 9 to 12 years old.It is an online games platform that can be downloaded for free, but also includes micropagos with real money to access certain functionalities.Since 2019, it has more than 200 million active monthly players.
Apart from a very popular game, it is also a video game design and creation tool.In fact, these 200 million monthly players spend most of the time in experiences created by other users.According to Roblox Corporation data, the platform has more than five million creators.In mid -August, journalist Quintin Smith of People Make Games published a report in which he analyzed how the company obtains income and tried to discover if “they are exploiting young developers”.
In March 2021, Roblox Corporation went over with an assessment of 41 billion dollars, doubleing its most direct competitor: Epic Games.According to the specialized medium Markets Insider, in 2020 the company responsible for Fortnite was valued at approximately 18 billion dollars.
What makes Roblox win money is to encourage children to be workers with unreal expectations of what they can get, in a way that would be illegal if it were not online.
Quintin SmithPeople Make GamesThe company based in San Mateo (California) sells Roblox as a way of "generating enough money" and encourages its users with great success stories.In the creative section of the official website of the platform you can read phrases such as “our best developers receive income of more than 2 million dollars a year for allowing purchases within experiences”.But the reality is very different and the vast majority of creators will never earn money with Roblox.You will only pay.
The majority of Roblox players are between 9 and 12 years old, but according to the Director of Security in the Community and Digital Civics of Roblox, Laura Higgins, some children begin to play at 7 years."Before we lost many of them as they entered adolescence, but now we are getting them to stay with us because they are interested in the creation of Roblox Games," Higgins said in an interview with La Vanguardia in the summer of 2019.
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In his video report, People Make Games interviews Emil, an 11 -year -old boy who went to a summer camp to learn to program Roblox.With these new knowledge, he was able to create a successful experience that went viral, but also realized how difficult it is to compete against the great creators of the platform.
An unsustainable business model for creators
Roblox's business model is unsustainable for most users who, in many cases, are minors.With messages such as “earns enough money”, the company incites players to start working on the platform.From Roblox Corporation they sell great success stories for young people to fall into the entrepreneurship trap, but the reality is that the vast majority will never earn real money and will only pay.
The first problem comes with visibility.Of the 20 million games offered by Roblox, only 2 are shown in the download menu.000 experiences with more players.Or your creation goes viral or you must pay the company to highlight your game, since without players you don't earn money.
It is impossible to play Roblox without spending Robux, since both experiences and cosmetic elements have a price.The company stays with 30% of all transactions made on the platform, but also offers creators the possibility of earning real money.Specifically, the minimum amount that can be taken from the game to transfer it to a bank account is 100.000 Robux, approximately 1.000 US dollars.
But Roblox buys his own much cheaper currency from users than he sells it.To make it clear: a normal user should spend 1.000 US dollars para obtener 100.000 Robux, while Roblox Corporation pays 350 dollars to users per 100.000 Robux.In addition, to be able to “earn money” with the platform, a five -dollar monthly fee must be paid per month.
This implies that the virtual currency has more value within the game and, in addition, it is very difficult to accumulate so much money to get it.As Quintin Smith points out, this minimum amount of 100.000 Robux is a conscious and thoughtful decision of Roblox Corporation, is not based on any requirement or technical or legal.Platforms like Twitch, allow to get money from 100 dollars, for example.
Roblox stays 83% of the money generated by the creators
Steam, the main video game store for PC, 30% of what developers generate, while Epic Games and Microsoft Store receive only 12%.These are the standards of the sector, which have led great controversies as the trial between Apple and Epic Games.Roblox's monetization system, on the other hand, allows the company to remain up to 83% of all transactions, which leaves creators only 17% of everything they generate.
This 2021, Roblox Corporation has come to the bag and has been valued at more than 41 billion dollars.From People Make Games they denounce that this company is building its platform on the work of millions of creators who charge nothing for doing so, while selling great triumph stories and developers that become rich.As the young Emil says: "Although Roblox encourages you to make games, the chances of making a successful experience are practically zero".
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