The company also expressed interest in porting Roblox to other virtual reality devices in the future. Around this time, Roblox optimized the way that its different releases were developed over the course of 3 years, reaching a point where only a minimal amount of engineers were needed to maintain the platforms it was available on and all versions functioned off of the same APIs. In August 2019, Roblox began allowing select users to upload their own accessories, a service that was later expanded to include various other types of accessories. As part of these plans, several other features were announced that would allow creators more freedom in their works, hoping to make them more “immersive” and making collaboration between developers easier.
- They employ various techniques, such as creating phishing websites or create ploys in order to acquire a victim’s session token.
- Limited items made by the community cannot be traded and this feature is restricted to official items.
- Additionally, the average number of daily active players in 2020 had increased by 85% compared to 2019.
- Roblox has spoken out against the existence of these groups, claiming they cause more harm than good, such as by luring in predators by impersonating children.
- This version of the platform, officially known as LuoBu, was published and operated by Tencent, and was heavily restricted due to China’s regulations on video games.
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Prior to the creation of the platform, both Baszucki and Cassel worked for Knowledge Revolution, a company that specialized in creating educational and physics simulation software. Since November 2021, the programming language has been open sourced under the MIT License. Roblox does offer hacking victims a “rollback” for their items, although this is only offered once per account. They employ various techniques, such as creating phishing websites or create ploys in order to acquire a victim’s session token.
Accessibility Tools
In mid-2006, the first two employees that were not Cassel or Baszucki were hired to work on the platform’s other features. They also advertised Roblox on some websites, leading to a few dozen players joining the platform as playtesters. Around this time, Baszucki came up with the idea of a physics sandbox with creation tools and a social networking aspect. After Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software, the two left the company and Baszucki began investing in earlier social media sites like Friendster.
Additionally, users with an active Roblox Premium subscription are able to trade limiteds amongst each other. Since 2019, select users have gained the ability to publish avatar accessories, animations, bundles and more. Robux can be used to purchase virtual items that the player can use on their virtual character (or “avatar”) on the platform, or access experiences that require payment. While Roblox is free-to-play, it features a virtual currency known as “Robux” that can be purchased with real-world money.
- This also came with a feature called Smooth Terrain, which increased the graphic fidelity of in-game terrain.
- Roblox was created in 2004 by co-founders and software engineers David Baszucki and Erik Cassel.
- While Roblox started off small—both in playerbase and as a company—it began to grow rapidly in the second half of the 2010s.
- Roblox Corporation annually hosts the Roblox Developers Conference, a three-day, invite-only event in San Francisco where top content creators on the site learn of upcoming changes to the platform.
Roblox has been criticized several times due to the content that is present on the platform, specifically the presence of sexual or politically extremist-related material. In April 2021, Hasbro released Roblox-themed Nerf blasters and a Roblox-themed version of Monopoly. The sets included a code that was used to redeem virtual items, as well as blind boxes that contained random minifigures. In 2021, Roblox made it to where games on the platform are referred to as “experiences” following the platform’s involvement in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit.
Roblox Studio and game design
Roblox occasionally engages in events to promote films, such as ones held to promote Wonder Woman 1984 and Aquaman. Roblox Corporation annually hosts the Roblox Developers Conference, a three-day, invite-only event in San Francisco where top content creators on the site learn of upcoming changes to the platform. The 2020 edition of the Bloxy Awards, held virtually on the platform, drew 600,000 viewers. The sound was originally produced for the video game Messiah vegas casino apk (2000), and it was replaced in 2022 after Roblox and the sound’s producer entered a copyright dispute. From December 2025 to January 2026, mandatory age verification to communicate on the platform in any capacity will be rolled out.
As with games, avatar items on Roblox are mainly user-generated, though most items on the platform were made by Roblox themselves for most of the platform’s history. Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system built around user-generated content and games, officially referred to as “experiences”. According to the company, their monthly player base includes half of all American children under the age of 16. Several individual games on Roblox have accumulated revenues of over $10 million, while developers as a whole on the platform were collectively projected to have earned around $250 million over the course of 2020.
2009: Creation and early history
One of the most successful creators on the platform at the time was Luke Weber, known on Roblox as “Stickmasterluke”, who had a following of over ten million plays across all of his games combined. By this point in the platform’s history, several games had been played million of times. By August 2011, Roblox had about 6.8 million active users monthly, becoming the second-most popular kids entertainment site. Games that were made by the community early in the platform’s history included paintball games, haunted houses and model trains that players could ride. After verification, communication will be further limited to prohibit people from talking to users outside of their perceived “age group”.
Accessibility
Furthermore, there are people in the community known as “beamers” who compromise Roblox accounts to steal and sell their items on the platform’s black markets. Limited items made by the community cannot be traded and this feature is restricted to official items. After the original supply of that item runs out, players can resell them for a higher price. The prices of limited items range, with the most valuable ones costing millions of Robux.
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. The iOS version of Roblox passed $1 billion of lifetime revenue in November 2019, $1.5 billion in June 2020, and $2 billion in October 2020, making it the iOS app with the second-highest revenue. Later that year in August, Indonesia requested that Roblox strengthen its chat filters to remove harmful content and enhance child safety, warning that failure to comply could result in a ban. Kuwait briefly banned the game from August to October 2025, with the country lifting the ban after Roblox agreed to implement a set of new safety and content restrictions requested by Kuwaiti authorities. In April 2022, Truth in Advertising filed a complaint against Roblox with the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising, mainly failing to disclose when advertising is present, such as with advergames and brand ambassadors.
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Roblox’s business model throughout this time has continued to be based around creating a metaverse, and attempting to increase the platform’s appeal. In January 2022, LuoBu was shut down, with Roblox stating that they were going to redevelop the release, and that LuoBu was only ever intended to be a test version. The growth of Roblox, both as a platform and as a company, continued into 2021 and the following years. Additionally, in 2019, Roblox released Roblox Premium, which replaced its previous Builders Club memberships. In April 2016, Roblox became available for Oculus Rift, alongside a variety of quality-of-life features made specifically for that platform.
Games that are restricted to players over the age of 17 require ID verification to access. Once they gain access to the victim’s account, these “beamers” steal and subsequently sell valuable limited items owned by the victims for real-world currency or cryptocurrency through marketplace sites or Discord chat rooms. Avatar item creators have also been able to generate profit with the platform, with some individuals designing items as a full-time job. In 2020, Roblox reported that roughly 345,000 game developers on the platform earned money through the program. Through the Roblox “Developer Exchange” program, users are able to exchange their earned Robux for real-world money, as long as they have at least 30,000 Robux.
The Netherlands and Belgium have restricted certain games on the platform due to their regulations on in-game “lootboxes”, which give out items based on random or unknown chances, to reduce children’s exposure to gambling. In response to perceived moderation issues, there have been instances where players have formed “vigilante groups” to mass report predatory content and users on the platform. According to the company, the monthly player base includes half of all American children under the age of 16.
A version of Roblox for Xbox One was announced in September 2015 and released on November 20. After completing development on the iOS version, Roblox began looking into releasing a version for Android devices, as well as video game consoles. By January 2014, the platform’s monthly player count had increased 10 to 12 million monthly players, although a majority of those players did not have registered accounts and instead played as “guests”. These early versions of Roblox were extremely basic, with player avatars having not been animated yet and various features only being present in their most simplified form. Baszucki and Cassel began development on Roblox shortly afterwards, modeled after Baszucki’s vision, and also created the Roblox Corporation.
Direct messaging is restricted to users over the age of 13, unless that player has received parental consent to use the feature. Roblox allows players to communicate with each other in a variety of ways, such as through in-game chat and direct messaging. The engine and all games made on Roblox predominantly uses Luau, a dialect of the Lua 5.1 programming language. A sizeable amount of scams are on Roblox, largely revolving around messages promoting websites and games that are designed to appear to give out free Robux.
Developer’s Advertising or Marketing
In light of the platform’s newfound popularity and use during lockdowns, Roblox introduced a new “Party Place” system, which were specific spaces that players could use to arrange meetups and events, such as virtual concerts. The most popular game on the platform around this time was the role-playing game Adopt Me! Additionally, the average number of daily active players in 2020 had increased by 85% compared to 2019. From 2013 to 2014, Roblox released several updates to their development tools, adding new features.
It has also been accused by Hindenburg Research of artificially inflating its monthly active player count. They also criticized the platform’s virtual economy, comparing the limited collectibles market to gambling. Some found that the platform made it very easy to purchase microtransactions, leading to numerous instances where children have spent large sums of money on the platform without parents’ knowledge. Roblox’s business model has also been criticized, with the platform being accused of featuring exploitative practices that target children; Professor Jane Juffer at Cornell University accused Roblox of encouraging consumerism in children. In August 2025, Roblox sent a cease and desist to a YouTuber alleging that he had been involved with vigilantism, leading to widespread criticism towards the company.
At the same time, a port of Roblox to the PlayStation 4 were announced, and later released on October 10. In 2023, Roblox released public beta versions of the platform for Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro on July 27, with full versions released in September. It was removed due to the company believing newer players would get confused by the presence of two separate currencies.
It was determined early on in development that the two would design Roblox to rely entirely on user-generated content, only providing the tools necessary for people to develop games, as well as the server hosting later in development. An additional ‘tier’ of this system, known as “Trusted Connections”, allows verified users over the age of 13 to send unfiltered chat messages and personal information to each other. Games on Roblox greatly range in genre, and the content of these games effects its age rating. As of 2020, Roblox reported that more than 2 million developers used Roblox Studio to create more than 20 million games per year.
Roblox has spoken out against the existence of these groups, claiming they cause more harm than good, such as by luring in predators by impersonating children. Since January 2025, United States police have arrested at least six people alleged to have used Roblox to find and sexually exploit children, including “coercing minors into making pornography”. Trusted Reviews, in its overview of the platform, also praised Roblox Studio, stating that “for anyone seeking to develop their computer science skills, or create projects that will instantly receive feedback from a huge audience, the appeal is obvious”. Future virtual concerts starred artists like Swedish singer Zara Larsson and American band Twenty One Pilots. Roblox has also hosted virtual concerts, such as the one starring Lil Nas X; during that concert, Lil Nas X debuted his song “Holiday”.